Love Drunk
by Glamagirl
Summary: Maryse and Ted have to deal with some consequences.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anyone in this story, but rumor has it they own each other… shhhh

**A/N**: So this is the sequel to Last Night, if you haven't read it you can still easily understand this one because what happened in that story is pretty much going to be 'explained' in the first few chapters of this new fic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy ;)

_Love Drunk_

Ted Dibiase was standing on his bare feet over the carpet flooring of his hotel room when he heard a knock on his door. The sound was barely perceptible over the noise blasting all around him but he heard it just fine, but because he was too entranced watching the movie flashing through the flat TV screen at the foot of his bed he decided to ignore it.

At least until the ongoing action scene that caught his attention was over.

"Ohhh, you have to be kidding me!"

He exclaimed enthusiastically as the protagonist of the movie made a quite unbelievable stunt. It looked fake as hell because realistically speaking no one could fall off a three story building on his back and stand up to run away as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Oh, and as if that wasn't unbelievable enough, while the man was falling he kept shooting his Glock 18 like it was a machine gun, hitting and killing at least seven of the bad guys that were chasing after him.

Un-fucking-believable.

The least that could happen in a situation like that was for the guy to get the wind knocked out of him after taking that kind of fall. Forget about the dozen men shooting at him from the roof without hitting him, what really made Ted shake his head and snort was the fact that the guy fell on his back, rolled around, shoot and killed two more guys and then got to his feet to run away.

That was a big load of bullshit if you asked him, the man clearly didn't know how to sell a bump and thus the movie was pure crap.

With his eyes still glued to the TV screen, the third generation wrestler ate the last half of the protein bar he had in his hand and tossed the plastic envelop over the desk, then just when he was about to grab a bottle of water he heard the knock again, this time more clearly.

Tilting his head to the side, Ted moved his eyes to the door and frowned. For a second there he forgot all about the door but now his attention was back to it.

Who could be knocking at his door at one o'clock in the morning anyway?

Shrugging, he guessed that it was one of the guys; after all it was Mania weekend and with everyone in the company staying at the same hotel, random visits and countless attempts to rib each other was a very common occurrence.

Thinking that it was one of those cases or that maybe Cody was going to try his annually April fools' routine on him, Ted walked straight towards the door and opened it. "Let me guess, the hotel-" He started to say with a big smile on his lips, but as soon as he saw that the person at his door wasn't his friend Cody but Maryse, his smile faded away and the words he was going to say died on his lips. "Hey-" He said instead as his hand flew up to his head to scratch behind his ear.

Now that was interesting, of all the people in the world, the last one he expected to show at his door was the pretty blonde. After all, for the last couple of months their relationship was very strained at their best.

She didn't talk to him to begin with, but as if that wasn't enough she ignored or gave the evil eye to his many attempts to humor her. She just had assumed towards him a very cold and distant attitude and it was more than obvious that she was going to be mad at him for a long time if not forever.

He couldn't blame her; he could understand why she was acting like that so trying to respect her stance he gave up on his failed attempts to recover her friendship some weeks ago.

Sure, he would like for her to at least hear his version of how things really went out that fateful night that changed it all between them, but because she never gave him that chance he was keeping it all to himself.

"Can I come in?" She finally asked as he eyed her over.

For a few prolonged seconds, Ted kept his eyes on her, taking everything from the soft features of her face to the pose she assumed when standing in front of his door. She looked immaculate as ever, but she was sporting that petulant pout that seemed permeated in her face every time she would look at him so he knew for sure that this wasn't a friendly visit.

He only wondered what it was all about. "Sure." After saying that, the southerner moved to the side and let her come through, watching as she went straight to sit in one of the chairs at the desk.

Once she was settled, Ted closed the door and turning around he grabbed a shirt he found laying around to put it on. After covering his naked torso with it he walked towards the bed and with the control remote he muted the TV. "Do you want anything? I have water, I think there's…"

"No." She interrupted him curtly and once again he wondered why she was there. If they were not on speaking terms and if their TV angle was pretty much dead, what was the reason of this unexpected visit?

Could it be that she finally wanted to talk about what happened that night? If that was the case he was more than ready, he wanted to clarify all the missing points and finally put that episode behind them so they could be back to normal.

"So what can I do for you?" He asked tentatively as he sat down over his bed.

The blonde French-Canadian took in a long deep breath and arched an eyebrow, her eyes settling on his before she finally spoke the words. "I'm pregnant."

Blinking a couple of times, Ted's jaw tensed until it hurt and he felt his heart skip a beat for a very long second; but just when he was wondering if the indispensable organ just stopped working for good, it reassumed it's beating with a new frantic rhythm. It wanted to explode right inside his chest. "You are what?"

Maryse licked her lips, her eyes never leaving his. "You heard me."

Oh no, no, no… he sure as hell heard her just fine but that was just… nah, it had to be a joke. Yes, it had to be, after all it was officially April Fools' Day and he wouldn't put it past Cody to make her say that just to give him a scare. Oh, but Cody didn't know about that night so it had to be a thing of her own. "You are joking, aren't you?"

She didn't respond to that question but the look on her face spoke volumes of what she wasn't saying. "Oh shit." He mumbled under his breath as he lowered his head and closed his eyes. As he did that, his hands went to cradle his face and he rubbed the tip of his fingers over his closed eyelids. "Are you sure, I mean- are you really, really sure?" He chuckled the words out, but there was no trace of amusement in his voice.

From her place beside the desk, Maryse observed him without blinking, her lips forming a thin line on her face as her own heart beat insanely inside her chest. Yes she was sure, she has taken three home pregnancy tests and all of them came out positive; but because she has been a bit incredulous about the results she went to a lab and good a blood test that also came out positive.

Four positives served as a huge wakeup call so just a week ago she went to her Dr., and not only did he confirmed it but he also proved it by letting her hear the beating of the baby's heart and she even saw it though a monitor screen. It didn't look like a baby at all but it was right inside of her and it has been there for 10 weeks now.

So yup, there was no doubt about it, she was pregnant.

"I'm very sure." She responded before using her tongue to push hard at the inside of her cheek. As a matter of fact, she has been sure about it for quite a while but she has been coping with it and it wasn't until now that she decided to let him know.

Now, despite her stoic demeanor she had to admit that deep inside she was nervous as she has ever been, this was a first in her life and she was genuinely scared.

For a week or so she has been playing with the idea of not telling him but at the end she decided that it was for the best because after WrestleMania and all its events were done, she was going to have a meeting with Vince McMahon himself and it was best if Ted knew about what was going on before the rest of the world did.

Like Natalya told her, even if she left the company came Thursday, the news that she was pregnant was going to break free sooner or later and if Ted even care to think about it he could easily deduce the baby was his.

"Is it mine?" He asked in a low whisper, lifting his head up and staring right into her eyes.

On her part Maryse wanted to laugh. Among many things, she has been anticipating that question and in a weird kind of way it was funny that it took him so long to ask it. "You tell me, I think you have a more clear recollection of what happened that night; so, is it yours or did you invite some friends over to join the fun?"

So yeah, that was some kind of a low blow and she knew it. She was more aware of what happened that night than he knew of and she was sure that he was the only possible father, but because she couldn't lose an opportunity to make him feel bad about everything she just went ahead and said that.

Ted lowered his head once again and took in a deep breath, the muscles of his face feeling heavy as stones. Like Maryse had wanted, he felt really bad about what she said; hell, he felt awful about the way things turned out between him and Maryse period. Because despite everything she believed, he never meant for things to get as far as they went between them.

That night when he walked into her room his intentions were not taking her to bed, not at all. He just wanted to make her laugh and have a good time with a silly Chippendale routine for her birthday, nothing more than that. But as things turned out, somewhere along the line things got out of control and they got carried away.

Should he have prevented things of getting so far? But of course, but he was more than a little drunk himself and in his impaired mind he didn't find it in himself to resist her.

After all he couldn't deny that Maryse was beyond gorgeous and her heated kisses and her insistent touches were plain and simply hard to ignore for his mere mortal body.

It was like this, if Maryse touches you, you can't do anything at all but to let her do it, and if she encourages you to touch her back you just go along with it and do it. That was just what he did… he never imagined the consequences were going to be so drastic.

There was also the fact that he never imagined she was so drunk that she didn't know what she was doing or that she wasn't going to remember things the next day! And if he was to be honest, back to that night he was sure she knew it was him all along.

After all, the first thing he did when she started touching him was laughing and asking her what she was doing. In his mind he couldn't imagine that she wasn't going to recognize his voice when she heard it all the time?

Well, apparently she didn't so imagine his surprise the following day when the first thing she said in his presence was that she couldn't remember a thing she did the previous night. That has been like a blow to the gut and he just didn't know how the break the news to her.

But that was beyond the point now, what really mattered was that things really got out of control and he didn't know what to do; he didn't even know what to say.

Clearing his throat, Ted ran his hand down his jaw and went back to looking into the hazel eyes of the woman sitting on his desk. His first instinct was looking at her belly, but because she was wearing a black coat it was hard to say if there was a noticeable bump there.

"Maryse, I really don't know what to say here." The news really got him by surprise and he needed a few minutes to register it all in his brain…

A baby… God, he just got a divorce six months ago and now he was having a baby with a woman that didn't even liked talking to him! His mom was going to have a heart attack over that one… not to mention his dad's reaction.

"I didn't come here to hear you talk; I just thought it was fair to let you know so I'm going to go now."

With that said, Maryse got to her feet and with all the gracefulness that characterized her, she swirled on her feet and walked to the door.

It took Ted a little more than three seconds to react, but when he did he stood up and rushed towards her. "Wait, Maryse, just…"

The blonde Diva turned around and quirked her lips, watching him through eyes of steel as he ran his fingers through his short hair. If truth be told, she wasn't expecting anything from him; like she said, as the father she just though he ought to know because it was only fair.

Ah, but at least his reaction wasn't for the worse; yes he was looking at her through big terrified eyes but that was better than one of the scenarios she painted in her mind where he would turn into full jerk mode and deny that the baby could be his.

"You know, this is… I wasn't expecting this at all and I just-"

"Don't sweat it." She said lifting her face to his. "I just wanted to let you know so now that I'm done I'll leave."

Ted didn't respond to her words, and when she turned around once again and opened the door he just watched her go. So she left, leaving him there more than a little lost and he wasn't going to lie, scared out of his mind.

A baby… shit, he really fucked up this time.

TBC…?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Sorry it took me so long, this one is a fill in to keep going so I hope you like it ;)

_Love Drunk: ChApTeR 2_

Never before in his life has Ted felt so bad while being sober. Actually, he was feeling worse than he ever did while dealing with a hangover. His head was killing him, the lights that illuminated the corridors were bothering his sensitive eyes and he was sure that his legs were carrying him out of pure instinct. Overall it was safe to say he felt like shit, almost as if he had spent the entire night drinking his weight in alcohol and now he was just suffering the dire consequences.

So yeah, as bad as it sounded that was how it was; he was feeling like a walking zombie and he wouldn't be surprised that by looking at him, people passing him by would think that he pulled out a night of drinking and partying until the wee hours of dawn.

Well, the truth was that for all he cared people could think what they wanted; the fact of the matter was that he hadn't done any of those things. The previous night he hadn't even touched a bottle of beer with a stick so chances of him suffering a hangover were null.

He did however, spent the entire night thinking until his brain hurt and because of that he didn't get any sleep at all; he was a hundred percent sure that was the cause of all his afflictions.

By then it was close to seven o'clock in the morning and after considering it for several hours he decided to go out and face what was to come. Now, what he hadn't been expecting was that the world outside his hotel room would be buzzing too loudly for his taste.

In his mind, mornings shouldn't be so noisy and in that particular day the noise was too much for him to handle. He wished he could just get back to his room, jump in bed and sleep all his worries away.

Yeah, if only things were so easy.

Breathing in and adjusting his aviator sunglasses over the bridge of his nose, the third generation superstar forced his legs to keep going forward and it wasn't until he was at the fifth floor and in front of the world's scariest door that he stopped to knock. As bad as things could turn to he was going to do what he needed to do…

"Hey Dibiase, tonight after axxes we will all meet at the hotel bar, pray that your liver survives this one."

Using the back of his hand, Ted waved off whoever had passed him by while keeping his stare on the door. Who was it? He didn't know, the only thing that he knew was that it was still too damn early for anyone with some sense in them to be awake and making plans for drinking the night away.

Ah, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that people were feeling so festive, with it being WrestleMania weekend it seemed that everybody was happy about it and wanted to keep the celebrations going 24/7.

Ted would be happier too, but this year he wasn't even on the card so quite honestly he could care less; besides, with the news he received last night he didn't think he would be enjoying himself even if he was main eventing.

Yeah, as if…

Shaking his head at the way his mind was operating, Ted blinked a couple of times and knocked on the door again, the only different from his first attempt being that this time he got an answer.

He watched with his jaw locked up as the door was opened by a pretty blonde; sure, it wasn't the one he came looking for but it was the next best thing.

"Now look at this, Ted Dibiase, Jr., wow you look awful. Didn't you get any sleep last night?" Even though she was smiling, Ted knew that her words were not meant to be kind so he wrinkled his nose and arched an eyebrow.

"Is Maryse here?" He asked, his voice almost a groan. He wasn't in the mood for any kind of pettiness.

Blowing out a breath, the Canadian Diva crossed her arms against her chest and lifted her head up to look at him in the eye. "She's sleeping."

Licking his lips, Ted took off his sunglasses and returned Natalya's stare with one of his own. "Well, I want to have a word with her, last night she came to me and, well she told me that she was… you know."

"Pregnant." Natalya said, her eyes still fixed on his. "She's pregnant, Ted."

"Yeah… that. Well, I- just wanted to talk with her about that."

Natalya narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. "She's in her room sleeping and if I was you I would let her sleep some more; she didn't get a good night sleep last night and she gets cranky when she doesn't sleep well, you know that."

Yeah, he knew that, but he really needed to talk to her and if he didn't do it in that moment he wasn't sure if his resolution could hold until later that day. "I didn't get any sleep either."

"Yeah, poor you."

Catching the sarcastic tone of her last statement, Ted pursed his lips and blew out a breath. "Look, I know I'm not in your list of favorite people right now but I would appreciate if you could just tell her I'm here so that I just can talk to her. We didn't get to talk much about the whole thing in detail and there are a few things we need to discuss."

"You are right; it's obvious that you guys need to have a good talk about this, but not now Ted, she's sleeping." Natalya said while throwing her hands down. "Oh and by the way, I don't know why you said that thing about being in this list or that one because I personally have nothing against you."

"Oh come on Nattie." Ted blurted out, interrupting her. "You know that's not true; ever since this whole thing with Maryse happened you've been giving me the evil eye and the cold shoulder every chance you have so don't say you don't have anything against me."

He wasn't stupid, he noticed those things. Before the night of Maryse's birthday he got along perfectly with the two of them and since then, whatever friendship existed between them just vanished.

"Well okay, maybe this whole thing bothered me a bit so yeah, you are not in my favorite list right now. I mean yeah, before all this mess I liked you and all that but Maryse is one of my friends and what you did to her was not cool at all." After saying that, Natalya pushed her back against the frame of the door and quirked her lips. "You are lucky she didn't accuse you of rape."

"What?" Ted mumbled while doing a double take. That little word Natalya just threw out there was an ugly one and he didn't like it at all, especially when used against him. "I didn't rape her." Not at all, he would never do a thing like that. Sure, maybe what happened that night wasn't the best decision he ever made but he wouldn't go as far as to call it rape. But wait, what if that was how Maryse saw it? "Is that what she thinks, that I raped her?

God, just to think about it made him sick to his stomach and he could actually feel his blood draining out of his face and making him seem paler than a ghost.

Natalya sighed, her features softening a bit as her eyes fixed on his turbulent blue ones. "No, I don't think she thinks that way. But let's get real here; Maryse was drunk out of her mind and you totally took advantage of her. She was in no state of mind to weight the consequences of what was going and she wasn't in a position where she could consent on having any kind of sexual act with you or with anyone else. Did you know that the morning after she had no idea who did she sleep with and that she was going out of her mind with a thousand questions? Ah, of course you didn't know that, I mean why should you if once you got what you wanted out of her you disappeared without leaving any trace."

Ted blinked a couple of times and lifted his right hand up so he could scratch behind his ear. Natalya was being too harsh and he felt like he needed to defend himself. "Things were not like that. When I got into her room that night I didn't mean for things to go that way, but I was drunk as well and Maryse was just…"

God, that night she has been plain and simply irresistible. Her touch has been maddening, her kisses impossible to turn away from and his body just responded like it knew how to. How would he have imagined that she wouldn't recognize his voice or that she wasn't going to remember something he couldn't forget?

"Yeah she's aware that she was a bit insistent but she was drunk, Ted, and if you considered her to be a friend you would have turned away instead of playing along with something you knew to be wrong."

"You know, I can't make excuses right now because there's no point in that, but things are not as you make them to be. I'm not a monster, I'm not a rapist and trust me, if I would have known back then that she was drunk to a point where she wasn't even aware of what she was doing I wouldn't have let things get out of hand… I just-" He sighed, swallowing on dry as he searched for the right words to say. "I thought she knew it was me and I don't know…"

He shrugged, looking down to his shoes as Natalya scanned him over.

"But she didn't know, because not only did you have her blindfolded but you also made sure to keep in anonymity by not even talking to her."

Ted chuckled, it was impossible to argue with Natalya. "No offense here but you were not there so you don't know what happened or how it happened. I on the other hand was there and I remember it clearly as it was last night. I did talk to her and I only started to play along with the keep quiet and keep the blindfold on when I thought she was into that kind of stuff."

Sure, his talk with her hadn't been an extensive one where they discussed the rules of engagements or their levels of sobriety, but when she started to get bold with him he did ask her what she was doing, and then when things started to get heated up he asked her if she was sure about it.

Her response had been more than affirmative so he kept going, and even though he has been very tentative with his advances by not making a move she didn't encourage him to do. That he went with it knowing that she was a friend? Yes, he was a man with needs like anyone else and besides, how could he not give into temptation when she was after all the sexiest of sexy.

"Do you really have to argue so early in the morning at my door? I can't sleep."

At the sound of that voice, Ted turned his face away from Natalya's and saw the one and only Maryse standing in front of the half open door of what he assumed to be bedroom. She was just standing there, wrapped in a thin blanket with her face bare of any make-up and her blonde hair messed up by her hand running through it.

Quite honestly, she didn't look too well; she seemed tired, she was too pale and her eyes were puffy. But even though, he couldn't help but to think that there was a certain charm in her appearances.

"It's lover boy's fault, I told him you were sleeping." Natalya said with a shrug. "But anyway, I'm going back to Tyson, call me later kiddo." With that said, Natalya gave Ted one look he couldn't decipher and then walked out, leaving him and Maryse alone in her room.

"So what do you want?" She asked, fixing Ted with a glare as she remained in her spot.

Ted on the other hand walked into the room and closed the door behind him. However, he remained standing there while he ran one hand down his jaw. He didn't know what it was, but for some reason he didn't feel like he was welcomed to go in any further so he wasn't going to risk it. "I want to talk about what you told me last night."

The blonde Diva closed her eyes for a few seconds and sighed. "What about it."

He felt like chuckling. Was she really asking what about it? Hello! Everything was about it! If she wasn't lying she was going to have his baby and there was a lot to discuss about that.

Like how far along she was? What she was going to do? Was she was going to have it…? That last one made him blink slowly, wondering. He hoped she was having it, because as messed up as everything was he wasn't raised up to do a thing like getting rid of a baby just like that.

But first of all…

"Did you think I raped you, be honest."

Maryse opened her eyes and looked at him. She didn't look shaken up by the terrible word so he hoped she didn't see what happened as rape. "Ted…" She took in a deep breath and went back again at running her hand through her hair. "I don't think you _raped_ me."

At that answer, Ted let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and nodded. "Good, I was just wondering… I mean you are definitely still mad about what happened and I didn't want you to think _that's _what happened."

"I'm not mad about what happened, I know what I did to make that night happen and I'm not making excuses for it. If I'm mad about something is because I had to find out that you were the man I was looking for through a third person, that even after I sat down with you and told you that I was worried about the previous night you still kept your silence and acted as if nothing went on. Did you think I was never going to find out?"

Ted shook his head; sure, she was right and he couldn't argue about the fact that he didn't tell her or even stuck around after she fell asleep; but it was just that back to that day he was genuinely trying to find the best way to tell her. And he was going to, when he realized she had no idea he was the man she gave herself to with total abandon he knew he had to tell her; hell, when she showed up in his locker room later that day he was actually struggling to break the news to her.

But then she got that call, left the room and when she came back she already knew. "I wanted to tell you, I just didn't know how to…"

"Anything would have done, but that's in the past now and I don't want to talk about it."

"I would say that there are a lot of thing we need to talk about that night. I mean, we've been putting this off for such a long time and I think it's time for us to talk."

"Talking will not change things."

"But it could help us get along better. Maryse, I still think of you as a good friend and I don't think we can't keep ignoring this anymore. That night things happened and because of it you are going to have my baby…" He blew out a breath, the words sounding weird to his ears. "You just can't keep ignoring me now."

Sucking into her mouth her lower lip, Maryse held her head up high in a haughty manner and fixed her eyes on his. "Look, I'm not a morning person and it's too early for me to think about anything at all, so why don't we hold this conversation for later on, that way you will think things over and I won't snap at you over nothing."

"There's not much for me to think about, I'll do what I have to do and I won't leave you alone in this."

When Ted said that, Maryse's face didn't change, but she did blink three times very rapidly and he could almost swear that he saw her jaw tense in a way he has never seen in her. "You don't have to do anything."

Lowering his head, Ted thought about it for a second and then sighed. Of course he had to, it was his baby and like he said, even if they were not in speaking terms he still considered Maryse to be his friend and he wasn't going to turn his back on her. Like his brother so bluntly used to say, if you eat you have to shit…

So with that in mind, he walked into the room and headed her way. Once in front of her, he took the liberty of lifting a hand to her face to hold her chin in his hand, that way he made her look up to him. She didn't protest and just looked at him, her face a stoic mask as he scanned her face. "Go and get your sleep, but afterwards we are going to talk."

Yes, he was making sure of that, and in case she decided not to have that talk with him he was going to wait in her room until she woke up. That way there was no escape for her.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Here is next chapter, I don't feel too happy about but it is very much needed to keep the story going, let's say it's a fill in chapter. Anyway, thanks for the nice reviews, they mean a lot. ;)

**Chapter 3**

Rubbing his closed eyelids with the back of his right hand, the third generation WWE superstar known as Ted Dibiase took a deep long breath and with a low groan that felt as if it was torn right from the back of his throat he got to his feet.

Once up, the southerner dragged his hand down to the light stubble in his jaw and shook his head vigorously, trying one way or another to shake himself fully awake. Now truth be told, even after he had rested both his body and mind while sitting there, there was no way he could ignore the fact that he was still feeling like crap, his limbs were tingling and his head was pounding like crazy. Not that it surprised him, after all for the last few hours he has been sitting in the same position, waiting and waiting until his patience started to run out and his body began to resent him.

Sure, he dozed off a couple of times on the comfortable sofa in Maryse's suite but that didn't help his case, he still felt like his wait has been eternal and it was time for him to hurry things up.

Perhaps, what motivated him to finally rise from his lethargy has been the sound of the shower running, that right there had startled him half awake and the first thought that ran through his mind was that Maryse finally woke up; but after a little more than twenty minutes later he heard the woman get out of the bathroom and get back into her room, place where she has been locked up for the last fifteen minutes or so.

He didn't know what she was up to, for all he knew she could be changing or she plain and simply went back to sleep. One thing he knew for sure, and that was that whatever she was doing she was doing it in silence and deep inside something was telling him she was doing the last of his assumptions, so wanting to get over with it he walked straight to the door and knocked a couple of times.

It was true that he told her that he was going to wait until she rested so they could talk but it was already ten minutes past noon, he was starving and he needed to get ready for that afternoon's Axxes. He couldn't wait for her all day long.

"Maryse… are you awake?" He called, but after waiting for several seconds and getting no response he tried calling out for her once more. "Maryse?"

He got no response whatsoever and after knocking a few more times he decided to try the knob and check on her. Hopefully she wouldn't get even madder at him than she already was.

When he opened the door, the first thing he noticed was that he was right, the blonde WWE Diva was laying in bed and covered head to toe with the bed's comforter. He didn't need to be a genius to know that she was back to sleeping.

"Hey-" He mumbled, his voice coming as too loud in the sepulchral silence taking over the darkened room. "I have to keep moving and I wanted to know if it was okay for us to talk now."

From his place below the doorframe, Ted detected movement from underneath the comforter and soon after a blonde mass of platinum blonde hair peeked out for him to see. "What are you doing here?" Maryse groaned in her thick accent, showing her pale face to him as she remained laying down.

"Well, I told you we needed to talk and here I am." He has been there ever since Natalya opened the door for him earlier that morning and he wasn't going to leave until they could talk.

Sitting up, Maryse blinked her eyes open and pursed her lips. She wasn't feeling well, her stomach was a mess, she was feeling more tired than ever and she just wanted to sleep all day long. She wasn't feeling like talking, especially not with Ted. "Can't this wait?"

"No." Ted said and the soon to be mother blew a breath away.

"Ted, I'm really not in the mood right now."

Ted's lips curved into an un-amused smile and he brought his hand back to his face to scratch below his ear. Go figure, she wasn't in the mood… well, he wasn't in the mood either but this was something they really needed to talk about and he didn't want to postpone it anymore.

If they left the talk for later, his mind would keep spinning out of control inside his skull and he didn't want that to happen anymore, not at all. As it was he has been thinking too much for being so early and that was why his head was killing him.

It was like this, he has done a lot of thinking and in his mind he came to the conclusion that Maryse wanted to evaded the subject of her pregnancy at all costs, and that only made him wonder what she was going to do about it.

So, feeling his jaw tense up as his eyes took in the appearance of the woman who claimed to be carrying a baby of his, Ted took in a deep breath and shoot the most important question he has been asking himself since the previous night. "Are you going to have it?"

Through wide wild open eyes, Ted saw as Maryse's face turned into a sculpted mask of granite. He also noticed the circles beneath her eyes, the way her face seemed too pale and how she was severely locking eyes with him.

"Would you care if I did?"

Ted licked his lips without taking his eyes from her. "I would, if that baby is mine I would like you to have it." He hadn't been raised to think that getting rid of a baby was the right choice and even when that baby hadn't been planned he didn't want his life to end prematurely in some doctor's office and discarded in the afternoon's garbage.

Sure, he hadn't been raised to think that it was okay to have unprotected and drunken one night stands but that was another thing…

"Easy for you to say it as you are not the one who will have to carry with all the consequences about it. Are you aware that I can't work like this?" She asked, her tone low but firm.

"Maryse…" Ted began to say, trying to find a good argument against what she just said. He just didn't get it, there were a thousand working mother's out there and he couldn't see why she couldn't be another one. He could help too… he would probably be a lousy father but he could try.

Looking down to her hands, Maryse shrugged. "You know, I didn't think I would ever be in this situation. I mean I only like kids when they are someone else's and I always went off my way to prevent something like this. Now look at me, I'm getting bigger than I've ever been, I wake up every morning throwing my guts out and I feel like I have to pee all the time. This… this will completely change everything about me; my lifestyle, my work and I… I don't know, the whole thing feels surreal. I feel like I'm still in shock."

Moving from his spot and heading towards the bed, Ted sat down on it and fought the urge of reaching for Maryse's hand to take it in his own. Even though he didn't agree with the arguments she was throwing up at him, he did feel sympathetic towards her. After all, what she was saying was partly true; her lifestyle was just not congruent with that of a mom. She liked to party too much, she liked good wine, to show off her ridiculous hot body and she liked to have her fun too much as to settle down all of a sudden…

But he couldn't see how someone could choose a busy social life over their own flesh and blood. "Did you already make your mind about this?"

"About having the baby?" She sucked into her mouth her bottom lip and sighed. "Yes, I'm going to have it. I can't bring myself not to." Not that the notion of not doing it hadn't crossed her mind when she first found out.

That she doubted was her friend Rosa's fault, she and Natalya had been the first two she released the news to and Rosa had some interesting points about it.

According to the Latina, with a baby Maryse wasn't going to be able to work, period; at least not like she was used to because being a Diva and even modeling depended on her looks and there was no doubt that she was going to get huge. Also, with a baby she would have to tone down her nightlife and what was worse, she was going to have to do it all alone because she didn't know what was going to be Ted's reaction.

Back to those first days, when thinking about it the French-Canadian just assumed that Ted was either going to deny the baby was his or he wouldn't want to be a part of the whole thing.

But at the end of the day, those points were not strong enough in Maryse's mind, because planned or not planned the baby was a part of her and as messed up as everything has been, she just couldn't get rid of it so easily. "Was that what you wanted to hear?"

Smiling, Ted lowered his gaze and breathed out. "Partially yes, I definetely wanted to hear that. But I would also like to hear that you are not mad about me about that night. I never mean for things to go that way. I really thought…"

"I heard you." Maryse interrupted him. "When you were talking to Natalya I heard you."

Ted looked up, his clear blue eyes fixing in her warm hazel ones. If she heard him explain himself to Natalya, she basically knew now that he thought that she knew it was him, that it wasn't until the next day that he realized she was so drunk that she didn't even know who he was. "So…"

"So I still have the same question, why did you do it?"

Dibiase chuckled, running his fingers through his hair as he blinked slowly. "Why did I do it?" God, wasn't it obvious? He did it because he liked her and even though he never nursed the idea that they could be something more than friends he liked her a lot. Honestly, she was beyond gorgeous, she was funny and that night the only thing he could think of was that he was one lucky bastard to have a woman like her giving herself with such abandon to him.

Sure, the next day he wasn't feeling quite the same way when he found out she couldn't remember a thing, but even with that inconvenient detail the memory of that night was something he couldn't take out of his mind.

Now, it wasn't like he had fallen in love with her, he just liked her very much and that night has been one of a kind.

"Well," He sighed, tilting his head in her direction as his lips curved into a smile. He knew Maryse, prior to her birthday night they had been good friends and during their ongoing storyline he came to know her pretty well. So, because he knew her more than most, he chose for the safest way out of her question, appealing to her ego. "For once because you are damn hot and I have a weakness for extremely hot, blonde French Canadians."

"Obviously," She said with a roll of her eyes and Ted had to smile. That right there was a glimpse of the Maryse he considered a friend and he was glad to have her back, even if it was for such a short time.

"Especially if they have happy hands."

As a response to that, Maryse hid her pretty face behind the palm of her hands and grunted. "Ugh, Ted… why do you have to be so nasty?"

Snorting, he grabbed her hands and took them down, but even though her face was now exposed to him she still remained with her eyes closed, giving him time to study with care her soft features. "Why nasty? There was nothing nasty about it."

"This is embarrassing; God, you probably think I'm a sex-crazed woman who attacks everything I find on my way. I swear I'm not like that."

Squinting his eyes, Ted brushed off the hair out of her face and sighed. He didn't think that about her, back to that night what he was thinking was that it was amazing how passionate she was behind closed doors and that only served as a boost to his ego; sure the following day that same ego unmercifully received a hard blow that deflated it but with time he recuperated. "There's no reason for you to be embarrassed, you are a very passionate woman and you know… that night you were just releasing all that passion and things happened."

"Can we just please don't talk about it?" She said, opening her eyes to send a pleading look at him.

Embarrassed was something he hadn't seen this woman portray before so he nodded, trying to figure her out. "Sure." He replied, his eyes moving all over face. "So what now?"

"Now? Well I have a photo shot so I guess I'll have to go out there and cancel it. I mean I don't think Vince will want some promotional pics of my baby bum so I'll talk to Stephanie and break the news to her. I think she can understand better than Vince…"

Lowering his blue eyes, Ted looked down to her belly, wanting to take a peek at it. But unfortunately, he couldn't see a damn thing because she was covered with the comforter. It was silly, but he suddenly felt like taking it away from her so he could take a look… maybe to have some visual confirmation that it was really happening, that she was truly carrying a baby inside of her, his baby.

But all in time, he wasn't planning of turning his back on her so there would be time to see all the evidence there was.

"So what about us? Are we back at being friends?"

Maryse shrugged, wrinkling her nose as her eyes returned to his. "I don't know, to be honest I'm still mad about you for not telling me about that night, but you know… maybe I should let the past behind and focus on what's coming. Now, I can't promise you I'll be nice, as of lately I'm in such a bad mood that I can't even stand myself so you know, consider yourself warned."

Puffing, Ted reached for her hand and squeezed it. "I'll take that, a crabby Maryse is better than an indifferent one." Besides, she couldn't stay mad at him forever. As he saw it, sooner or later she was going to forgive him, because from now one he was going to make it his mission to make it up for her…

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Big thanks to ViperDiva, Moxie, rkofan2012 and Ainat for the nice reviews ;)

**ChApTeR 4:**

"Ugh, it took me forever to find the perfect dress for tonight and now look at this, it doesn't even fit." Maryse complained out loud as she carelessly threw the splendid and now very useless designer dress into one of her open suitcases as if it wasn't worth the price she paid for it. "I shouldn't have bought it so long ago."

"If you wouldn't have bought a one size too small dress you wouldn't be having this problem, my dear puddle."

Pursing her lips, Maryse squinted her eyes and looked at her friend Natalya before blowing out a breath out of her mouth. "It wasn't one size too small when I got it, it fit perfectly."

"Well, it used to fit and now it doesn't, big deal! Besides, I'm pretty much sure that you have something else you can wear in one of those five suitcases you brought with you."

"I don't have anything in there, not for the Hall Of Fame. Trust me, I looked and looked and nothing." Maryse replied with a dramatic roll of her eyes as she let her body fall flat over the King size bed of her hotel suite. "I'll have to buy something, rush!"

Yes, she will definitely have to hit the stores as soon as it was possible because the Hall Of Fame was later that night and she was now without a dress to wear. Sure, she could always put on the one she brought with her but it would be uncomfortable to squeeze her growing belly in there for three hours straight.

Who knew, maybe wearing such a tight dress could even hurt the baby… or something, so no… another dress would have to be.

Fixing her eyes on an undefined spot in the ceiling and allowing a sigh to escape pass her lips, Maryse felt Natalya move over the bed and place one hand over the protruding bump where her baby resided. "I'm huge, am I not?"

"No you are not; come on Maryse, don't be such a drama queen. You know you are barely showing and nobody would guess you are pregnant just by looking at you. Yes you look a little bit bloated but that's perfectly normal."

"I'm huge enough not to fit in my dress."

"Oh God, give me more if I deserve it!" The other Canadian Diva exclaimed before she tilted her face in an angle where she could be closer to Maryse's stomach. "Dear baby, I hope you don't turn out to be as dramatic as your mommy because if you do, the two of you will cause aunt Nattie to have many, many headaches and yes, maybe I'll even end up suffering from hypertension."

Turning to her side, Maryse lowered her eyes towards Natalya and drew in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm stressed out. I have like a thousand things in my mind and…" Shrugging and blowing out another breath, she lifted one hand up in the air and then let it fall over her hip. "I don't know; I'm just stressed."

"I know, and that's the only reason I'm putting up with your moods, that and because you are pregnant." Natalya said, the features of her face softening as she looked at the soon to be mother.

Biting her bottom lip into her mouth, Maryse blinked slowly as a loud knock on the door was heard all over the room. "That must the twins, they texted me telling me they were coming over as soon as their signing at Axxes was done."

"Well, no wonder you are stressed out. Are you sure you want to tell them now? You know they are the BBC of the Divas, spreading news all over the place."

The blonde French Canadian thought about it for a second and decided that yes, she wanted to tell her friends. It was not like they would never find out anyway and since it was 'official' that she was pregnant she wanted to break the news to her circle of friends before her situation became the talk backstage.

It was the next big step, after all she already told the people who needed to know first and now it was time for everyone else to find out. So yeah, she basically didn't care that the twins didn't know the meaning of the word discretion and would probably run out of her room venting to the four winds that she was going to have a baby; maybe it was better that way as it would save her the trouble of telling people one by one.

"I guess… I mean they will eventually find out so-"

Now, what she wasn't sure yet was if she should tell them who the father of the baby was. Sure, they would definitely want to know and they would try to tear the truth out of her, but she hadn't heard of Ted since the day before and who knew, maybe he changed his mind about wanting to be a part of the baby's life.

For all she knew he didn't want people to know about the baby yet… or ever.

"Then let me get that, the sooner you get this over with the better." With that said, Natalya got up to her feet and walked out the door.

Once her friend was out, Maryse sat up in her bed and running her fingers through her hair she tilted her head to the side, her lips pursing as she thought about her upcoming shopping spree. It suddenly got into her mind that not only she would need to buy for the Hall Of Fame, she would have to buy lots and lots of clothes because she was going to get even more bigger than she was now at almost three months…

Who knew, that could turn out to be fun.

"Hey, Nattie let me in so I… can I come in?"

At the sound of that deep voice taking over her room, Maryse moved her head towards the bedroom door and saw that instead of the double trouble she expected to find, Ted was the one standing there.

It was the second time that week that he showed up unexpectedly at her bedroom door and she wondered if that would become a pattern from now on. She also wondered if he came to tell her that he changed his mind… after all he did look kind of hesitant.

"Well, you are already in." She said arching up an eyebrow, her voice coming off as more courtly than she intended it to be.

Ted didn't let her tone get to him and he walked in, standing in front of the bed as he used the fingers of his right hand to scratch below his ear. "So how are you feeling today?"

"I'm good."

Nodding, Ted's eyes settled in her face and he breathed in. "Okay…"

"So what is it, what do you want?" Maryse blurted out, blinking a few times before casually climbing out of bed so that she could pick something out of her suitcase to put on for her upcoming trip to the boutiques.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. I meant to come sooner but you know, I had Axxes last night and today was the Golf tournament." He said in his southern drawl and this time it was Maryse the one nodding.

"Don't worry about it, it's not like you have to give me explanations or anything like that." She said with a shrug as she walked around the room looking for one of her bags. No, she wasn't expecting explanations; in fact, she didn't know what she should be expecting from him. "Did Nattie left?"

Taking a few steps in her direction, Ted practically got in Maryse's face, blocking her way and preventing her to walk ahead. It made the younger woman halt in her tracks and lift her face to his, wondering what was he doing.

"Yeah, she said something about going to check on Tyson." The third generation superstar said absentmindedly as his hands went down to Maryse's belly. "You know, I think she warmed up to me since the last time I saw her."

Arching up an eyebrow, Maryse fixed her eyes on the blue orbs of the man standing in front of her and unable to help herself, she shrugged indifferently. "Really?"

Ted just nodded, his hand settling on her stomach as his lips curved into a smile. The whole thing was making Maryse feel a bit uncomfortable, not because he was touching her inappropriately, but it was just weird to have the man she vowed never to talk again in her life standing in the middle of her room, feeling his way around her stomach as he looked at her dead in the eyes. "How was your talk with the boss?"

And did he really need to look at her like that? It was as if he knew something she didn't know and taking in consideration their history, it made her feel uncomfortable.

Shaking out of her trance his eyes put on her, Maryse flipped at her hair and sighed. "Ugh, you won't believe this." She said overdramatically as she turned around to walk back to the bed and sit on a corner of it. "She kind of threw a proposal my way into staying in the company as a host of NXT and listen to this, turn my pregnancy into a storyline."

Furrowing his brows, Ted snorted. "Well that's not too bad, I mean that way you'll be able to stay in the company and work for a few more months-"

"Yeah, but the storyline she wants me to be in is one where I would be claiming the baby is Yoshi Tatsu's!"

"Get the fuck out." Ted said with an un-amused chuckle. He didn't want to say it out loud at the risk of sounding too dense, but there was no way in hell that he was going to allow that.

Yoshi? Come on…

The baby was his, so if Maryse was going to be in a storyline involving his baby, common sense dictated him that he should be a part of it as the father. It would fit, the two of them were already involved in a storyline were they were dating so it wasn't as if the whole thing would come as a surprise to the WWE Universe.

It would also keep the angle working instead of killing it like they were doing; Stephanie must know that if done right, they could turn him and Maryse in so many different ways.

"I know, but it doesn't end there, in this storyline Yoshi would respond to me as the responsible dad that he is, but as time passes he would confess in a live audience, that he can't be the father because we never slept together and then the real father would come out and it would be either Lucky cannon or Matt Striker…"

Ted pouted his lips. No, no way that was going to happen… "And what do you think about it?" He asked somberly, bringing his hand up to rest it over his jaw.

If she wanted to go with it, he couldn't see how he could make her change her mind…

"I don't want to do it. I mean yes I want to keep working and that's a good way for me to keep in good terms with the company. I can work until my last trimester, take my maternity leave and then come back. I can travel with the baby, Stephanie says I can get a tour bus but I don't know… if I do that, that storyline will follow me forever and trust me, I don't want that so I'm still thinking about it."

Trying to process it all and happy that she was sharing with him her plans regarding the baby; Ted walked over to the bed and sat besides her. "So what if I don't know, instead of writing those three as the possible fathers, why don't they put me? I mean I am the father so you know, it would make sense."

"Well…" Maryse said, quirking her lips and leering at him. "I didn't tell Stephanie you were the father so…"

Ted turned to her. "Why not?"

"Because I didn't know you if you wanted her to know. Ted, this is…"

Cutting her off, Ted caught her chin between his fingers and made her look at him. "Maryse, I told you yesterday that I wasn't going to leave you alone in this and I meant it. So if you want to keep working and turn this into a storyline it better be with me. If you don't want that and end up leaving the company for good then I don't know, I can support you until…"

"I don't need money." Maryse said petulantly and she meant it. It wasn't like she was going to run out of money if she didn't work for a year. She had savings, sure, she has been planning on buying a second house in Vegas with those savings but due recent events, she was just have to forget about that.

Besides, even if she ended up doing that angle, with less traveling she would have a lot of time off to work in a few projects she has been postponing.

"Would you let me finish?"

Maryse rolled her eyes, giving Ted the impression that she was going to let him finish talking. "I can support you until the baby is born and you can start moving around once again."

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then I don't need your money."

"For the love of God, Maryse, why are you so stubborn?" He said after letting go of her chin.

Maryse shrugged, bringing her hand up to eye level so she could inspect her manicured fingers.

"Well, I am stubborn too so this is a lethal combination. I'm not going to argue with you about this so I'll finish up with this, be ready at six because I'm going to pick you up."

"Why?" She asked, looking at him and noticing how close he was. It made her feel self-conscious and she wondered if by looking at her he ever remembered that night not so long ago that came to change her life so drastically.

He probably did and that was why she still felt kind of uncomfortable in his presence; that night she really acted without any kind of inhibition and she was embarrassed about it. That night she gave him full access to her body and he sure took it.

Besides, even though she hadn't know it was him, there was now no doubt that it has been him and the way he touched her what made her get out of control…

"Because tonight's the Hall Of Fame and you are going with me. But let me warn you, my dad wants to have a deep long talk with the two of us so be prepared for a Dibiase lecture."

"You told your dad?" She asked, her eyes moving over his face as he looked back at her.

Smiling a smile that reached all the way to his clear blue eyes, Ted shrugged. "Well yeah, did you tell your folks already?"

"Oui, what did your dad say?"

"The short version?" He snorted, licking his lips and scratching the light stubble on his jaw. "He got into a rant were he basically called me an irresponsible young man that didn't think over the consequences of his actions; he also said something about how young people nowadays wanted to live relationships backwards and how I hadn't been raised to get pregnant a woman who wasn't my wife blah, blah." Oh, and that was without mentioning the part where he hinted that his mother was going to have a heart-attack over the fact that his recently divorced son knocked out a playboy model she didn't even know he was dating. He also asked if Maryse was the reason why he divorced his poor ex-wife and he asked him if he was going to step up and marry her.

Overall his dad was disappointed, but he also let him know that they would welcome their grandson or granddaughter with open arms and that he wanted to bring Maryse over to his house so she could meet Ted's mother.

"Oh my, that was… my dad only said that he was going to beat your ass but I'll tell him not to bother because your dad already did."

"Well thank you, I rather take a lecture by my dad than a beating from yours."

"Yeah, well I can't promise anything about my brother though. He's a boxer."

Ted snorted, dragging his hand to the nape of his neck as he searched in Maryse's eyes for any hint that would indicate that she was joking. He didn't find any. "Wow."

"Don't worry, he'll probably just punch you once, then you can become friends, I think he'll like the redneck in you."

Sucking in a breath, Ted didn't know if he should take that as an insult or not, but because at least Maryse was talking to him without throwing daggers through her eyes he just smiled her way. "It's alright; if getting knocked out makes me win the brother maybe I can win the sister too."

"I don't know about that." She said and he noticed that her lip curved into the shadow of a smile before she shook her head. Not bad, not bad at all. "But anyway, if you want me to get ready then move, I need to buy a dress and if I stay here I'll never get ready."

Ted got to his feet, unable to help a smile of his own to creep to his face. "Okay, okay, I'll see you at six then?"

Rolling her eyes, Maryse brushed him off with a motion of her hand. "Yes. Now get going, I have things to do."

Ted nodded, turned around and left the room, leaving Maryse sitting over the bed as she watched the door with a smile on her face.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

First of all, thanks so much for the nice reviews. You guys are really great ;)

ChApTeR 5:

"Oh my God this is so nice, I love it." Adjusting her designer's sunglasses over the bridge of her nose, Maryse's lips curved into a smile as she felt the warm water of the pool embracing her body as she slowly walked into its depths. "It is especially good now that the heat is so unbearable; I don't even feel like I'll melt here as I would do outside."

"Do you know that you can't physically melt? You can burn but trust me; you can't melt, especially not due to early summer in Cali."

Lifting her head, the blonde French-Canadian looked up to the place Natalya was sitting and rolled her eyes. "What would you know? You don't live here. Today is the only time you came by and you can't feel how hot it gets because you are in the pool. Ugh, I swear it gets so bad out there that I'll melt sometime before giving birth if I stay in LA."

"So what, will you move back to Canada for the time being?"

Tilting her head to the side, Maryse looked at her friend Rosa and quirked her lips. "Dream on, maybe I'll just move into this nice hotel until October…"

Rosa arched an eyebrow and Maryse looked away. She was in no mood for Rosa that day, she just wanted to freshen up at the pool and so far it was working.

It was weird, but now that she was near seven months pregnant and in plain summer, her body seemed to have developed an annoying intolerance for hot weather and the only way she could make it better was to lock herself anywhere with an A/C or getting into the pool.

If she didn't do any of those she would automatically get into a foul mood and as of lately her foul moods were too extreme; they were so bad that she couldn't even stand to be in her skin.

That was the main reason she accepted the invitation to the hotel, some of the Smackdown guys were staying over and she saw it as a way to clear her mind, treat her body by the pool and get pampered a little bit.

"If you ask Ted to pay you some extended vacations here he would do it, no doubt about it. He'll do anything so you won't move out of the country."

At those words, Maryse rolled her eyes once again. She couldn't get why Rosa always found a way to talk about Ted even though he has nothing to do with the subject. She was doing that a lot lately and wanting to put an end to it she turned around and eyed her over. "Could we talk about something here without you mentioning Ted?"

The Latina did a double take and even when her back was to Natalya, Maryse knew that her best friend was shaking her head at her boldness. "Whoa, are we a little touchy here or what? But okay, I can be straight forward too so Maryse, tell me what's going on between you and Ted. And by that I mean this, what's going on between you two as of right now."

"Right now?" Maryse asked, arching an eyebrow. She has been asked that question a lot in different forms and ways and the answer was always the same. "Nothing." And it was the truth, as of that moment, Ted was just the father of her unborn child and even though they were interacting almost on regular basis, there was nothing going on between them.

Yes, he was almost close to be the friend he was to her a few months ago, almost… but quite frankly, Maryse was more than a little bit hesitant to tear down the barrier she put between the two of them and thus their relationship was just based in the fact that she was having his baby and he wanted to be part of the whole process.

Sure, he went with her to some of her Doctor's appointments, yes she went out with him to meet his mother in what she thought was the most awkward moment in her life and yes, sometimes they would ride together from the airport to the arena and then back to the hotel.

Overall she could say that they were close, but was there something going on between them? Not at all.

"Nothing?"

"I just told you, didn't you hear me?" Maryse responded exasperated.

Laughing, Rosa threw her head back and moved her arms through the water. "Do you believe her, Nattie?"

"I pledge the fifth; I don't want to be part of this conversation."

"See, not even Natalya believes that,"

"No, no, no; that's not what I said."

Taking in a deep breath, Maryse brushed her hair behind her ear and focused her attention only on Rosa. Sure, she considered the woman to be one of her best friends but right now she was starting to annoy her. "Okay, spill it out, is it that you like him?"

"No. Well, Ted is hot enough for my standards, I have to admit that, but that's not why I'm asking; I'm asking because for the last three months or so you've been having this man do anything and everything you want him to do just because you can, and even when he does it without complaining you still keep him at a distance."

Wrinkling her nose, Maryse crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't know anything, Rosa, so why don't keep your mouth shut."

"No, you are right, maybe I don't know anything on your part, but on his part it's obvious that the man wants with you and you are too cranky to notice."

"Don't be ridiculous, if Ted has an interest in me is because the baby, besides, I don't…"

Before she could finish talking, Rosa turned around and asked Natalya. "Isn't Ted here, I think I saw him walking by a few minutes ago. Not that it surprises me because wherever you are he is too and vice versa."

Shaking her head and grinning at the absurdity of Rosa's words, Maryse breathed out and rolled her eyes. "You are being ridiculous again. Yes Ted is here but so is Orton, Cody, you, Natalya and even that little masked guy Sin Cara; and yes, when I'm on the road I sometimes go with him because I don't know if you noticed but we are working together. That only means that you saying we are always together is pointless and irrelevant because even when we are in the same place, that doesn't mean that there's something going on between us."

"So there's nothing going on between you two?"

"For the last time, Rosa, no."

"Good, then you won't mind if I go to him and ask him out. I mean, now that we cleared the air and since he's single man I think I have a green light do this. Because let's face it, a man like him needs someone to take care of him and since you have no interest in giving him what he biologically needs, I'm very willing to give it to him."

"I don't know why but I think this could get ugly."

"What? Nah, you are kidding…" Maryse said, not quite believing what her friend was saying. Was she implying that she wanted to go out with Ted? Because if that was it she was very, very wrong…

"No I am not."

Chuckling and running a hand down her neck, Maryse blinked a few times while considering her words very carefully. "You can't do that." She said, plain, simple and straight to the point.

"Why not, you just told me that there's nothing between you two. Sure, I still think he is not over whatever weird relationship you had that left you pregnant but I'm sure I can make him forget you in a matter of nothing. You are the past, I am the future and Frenchie, there's no doubt that the Latina heat in me can overshadow the French in you."

"Oh my…" Natalya mumbled.

On her part, Maryse clicked her tongue and lowered her eyes. She could see her protruding belly through the clear water of the pool and for a few seconds she just stared at it. Then, lifting her head up she blinked slowly and pursed her lips, her eyes fixing in her supposed to be friend.

In that moment, she truly felt like slapping the grin out of Rosa's face and she had to force her hands to remain still. It wasn't in her, but in that moment she knew that if she did as much as open her mouth to reply to Rosa, only venom would come out and she didn't want to give the impression that the thought of Ted and Rosa repulsed her to no end…

But that wasn't because she had an interest on Ted beyond anything that wasn't the baby, not at all; but what kind of friend was Rosa that she wanted to hook up with the father of her baby? That was just wrong in so many levels that she didn't even know where to begin.

"It would be a nice change for him, God knows he can't wait for you forever and if you want me to be honest, it's a bit cruel on your part to lead him on into believing that all his attentions will lead him somewhere with you. I on the other hand, will give him anything he wants."

"You know something Rosa…" Maryse said through clenched teeth. "First things first, I am not leading Ted into believing anything…"

"Of course you are, ask Nattie… or better yet, here comes Ted so why don't we ask him?"

As soon as Rosa said that, Maryse looked to her right and there he was, Ted was definitely making his way into the pool and probably towards them.

If you asked her, she would say that he had the worst timing ever.

"Oh and look at that, he looks yummy. He should never wear a shirt again… Mmmm, enjoy your pool; I'm going to enjoy the man." With that said, Rosa adjusted her bikini top and turned around to face Ted. "Hey there, big guy, where were you all my life?"

"Uh?" Ted said as soon as he got into the pool. For a second he looked at Rosa, but without minding her too much he moved his eyes towards Maryse and smiled. "Jesus, this water is cold."

"Is it? Because I feel warm all over; must be the Latina in me. Some people say we can turn everything hot so why don't you come over here, I'll warm you up." She said, extending an arm to grab Ted and guide him to her.

Ted frowned, finding Rosa to be behaving kind of weird but shrugging the thought off and going the way she wanted him to go.

Now, that he was cold was probably just him, he has been out in the open playing a little bit of golf and the intensity of the sun left his blood too warm for his body; now that he got into the pool to cool off the water felt too cold.

That hadn't been his plan, as soon as he finished golfing he had in mind to take a shower and grab something to eat, but as he walked back to the hotel and saw Maryse in the pool, he didn't think it twice and got in, simple as that.

Maybe later on he could take her with him to grab a bite of something.

"So, what are you girls up to?" He asked while glancing over to Maryse, for some reason she looked annoyed and he started to wonder if she was feeling alright.

"Nothing yet, what about you? Any plans for tonight, I'm single you know?" Rosa said and for a short second he looked down at her, taking notice that her hand was still holding his arm as she got closer and closer…

What she was doing made him smile… was she trying to hit on him?

"Ugh, I think I'm going to get sick." Maryse said and Ted's eyes went back to her at once.

"Do you want me to bring you something?" He asked while his voice carried a hint of concern. Sure, it has been a while since Maryse was hit with her infamous morning sickness but he still remembered how a 7up could work wonders for her.

"I don't want anything." Maryse snapped, brushing past him and getting out of the pool.

Ted watched her go, and once she was out and wrapping a towel around her, he shrugged. "Okay, what did I do now?" As far as he could remember he hadn't done anything to make Maryse pissed.

"You are mean, Rosa, not even I would do that."

Ted glanced at Natalya and then moved his eyes to the Latina, watching as the dark haired woman smirked slyly. "Well, somebody had to do it and since I like a good conflict I just did it." After saying that, Rosa let go of Ted and chuckled.

"Okay I'm lost, what happened to Maryse?"

"Nothing happened to her, she just got jealous because of you."

Ted snorted, squinting his eyes as he looked from one woman to the other. "Jealous? Why would she…" He started to say and then remembered Rosa getting all cozy with him. He knew there was something weird with Rosa and now he saw what it was.

Thinking about it made him smile wildly and he ran a hand down his jaw. "Well that's… interesting. I'll go check on her." After saying that he turned around, his intention going out of the pool to find Maryse and see what was going on.

"Ted," Natalya called out before he could go far and the third generation wrestler looked back at her. "I'm going to give you an advice so please use it. Don't pressure her, just let her do things her way and I'm sure that you'll get what you want."

Nodding his head but unable to wipe the smile off his face, Ted turned around and got out of the pool, his intention catching up with Maryse.

It didn't took him too long to achieve that, because before he could even walk out of the pool area he spotted the blonde making her way back into the hotel and he headed that way. When he finally made it in she was waiting at the elevator.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" He asked, suddenly realizing that he was shirtless, barefoot and dripping wet while standing in the middle of the lobby.

"No. I think I'm going home, I hate this place." Maryse replied without even taking a look at him.

Smiling at the memory of what Natalya told him and at the way Maryse was acting, Ted crossed his arms up to his chest and sighed. "Fine, I'll take you there." He knew Maryse, he has gotten to know her better in the last couple of months and he knew that she could get nasty when mad, and by the look of her pretty face all stern and serious, she could tell that she was mad.

Could it be that she was really jealous? Just the thought of it made his smile get bigger.

"I can go there by myself, I don't need you to follow me around or take me everywhere I want to go."

"I know, but I want to…"

"Well I don't want that, you are not letting me breathe, Ted… I feel claustrophobic."

Ted arched an eyebrow. Leave it to Maryse to go over the top; he wouldn't say that he wasn't letting her breathe; in fact, this was the first time he talked to her since they arrived together at the arena the previous day. Then after the show ended she left with her friends and he hadn't even attempted to call her or get to her…

He rarely did, yes it was truth that he liked to check on her but he always made sure not to jeopardize her time. But like he said, when Maryse was mad she was like a cornered cat and this time she was fighting her battle with words, she wanted him to make him feel bad.

"I was just offering to take you home, but if you don't want that you just had to say it like a civilized person, there's no need to get moody."

"I don't want you to take me home." Maryse said curtly, her mood getting worse as she stabbed the elevator's panel with her finger.

"You know something?" Ted said, trying not to let her attitude ruin the little joy it caused him to know that she was acting that way out of jealousy. "You are a very difficult woman to deal with. Sometimes you are in a great mood and all is great, but then something bothers you and turn into this cold and yes, sometimes impossible person."

Maryse sighed, moving her head for the first time in his direction so that she could look right into his blue eyes. "You don't have to deal with me, Ted; if you want I'll send you an e-mail when the baby is born and voila, I'll save you the trouble of interacting with me for the next months. And what's wrong with this stupid elevator?"

Pursing his lips, Ted lowered his gaze and thought about it for a few seconds. What he was going to say could make Maryse get even madder but he was going to take the risk. "Rosa was right…"

That did it, before he could even finish what he was going to say, Maryse turned around and faced him, her eyes shooting daggers at him and her face flushed in anger. "If she is so right then why don't you go and bother her, she probably be very pleasant to you and who knows, maybe tonight you can get her pregnant too."

Ted reacted instinctively and when the metallic doors of the elevator opened, he gently pushed Maryse inside and then he cornered her against the wall. "Is that what you want?" He asked in a whisper, his eyes delving deep into Maryse's.

To her credit, the French-Canadian shook her head no and Ted held her gaze with him. "Then what is that you want, Maryse? Tell me because for the last couple of months I've been giving you everything you ask me for and more; but even though you don't let me see what's in that pretty head of yours so please tell me, what do you want?"

Shaking her head, Maryse lowered her gaze away from his and tensed her jaw. For the longest while she remained like that, an inch away from Ted as his hand casually brushed her hair behind her ear. But then, without looking up she licked her lips and blinked a few time. "I don't want anything."

At her words, Ted moved his hand to her chin and forced her head up. He couldn't say for sure, but after listening to her best friend saying that she was jealous because of him made him think that there was a possibility that she wanted something more.

Sure, knowing her as he knew her, he was sure that she was going to lie or refuse to tell him, but if she was going to do one of those then he wanted her to do it looking at him eye to eye. "Are you sure?"

Looking up for a few seconds in the most petulant way possible, Maryse sighed. Then she lowered her eyes to his and arched an eyebrow. "I already told you."

"Fine then." Ted said backing away from her. "Just fine." With that said, he turned around, pressed the button to open the door and stepped out.

Maybe Maryse wanted something more, maybe she didn't… who knew? But right now she was impossible to deal with so he did the best thing he could do, he turned his back on her and walked out.

Maybe his moment could come later, or maybe it would never come… but either way Natalya was right, he would have to do things her way or not do them at all; and right in that moment he wondered if it was really worth waiting for her.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I want to thank those who reviewed last chapter; it is you who really want me to keep going with this story so thanks! Now, please don't hate me now… O.o

**Love Drunk**

As of late, Maryse was being a very difficult person to deal with… of that there was no doubt in Ted's mind. It was like this, more often than not she was moody, when she was not moody she wasn't feeling alright and in those rare occasions when she was feeling great and her mood was at its best, she would rather go and spend time with her friends instead of sticking around with him.

That only meant that no matter what Ted would do, whenever she was around he could only appeal to her bad side and that whatever progress he has made regarding their strained relationship was slowly disappearing.

Yup, it was that bad; for every step he would take forward she would force him to backtrack two steps and thus he was now very far from the place he wanted to be.

Not that it mattered, Ted was very near a Boulevard called 'resignation' and he was heading forward to the 'moving on' highway. Because if there was something he was sure about was that Maryse was only dealing with him because she has to.

She would make that obvious with her attitude and even though she wasn't throwing it in his face anymore, it was clear to anyone who had eyes that the French Canadian was very far away from fully forgiving Ted for what happened back at her birthday.

Sure, some days were better than others but overall it was all the same. Take that moment for example; the two of them were in a car, Ted driving and Maryse looking out the window, none of them talking to each other. It was a recurring scene between the two, because even though Ted wasn't good enough to at least be a friend, in the blonde's mind he apparently was good enough as a chauffeur.

Ted didn't mind much, with or without Maryse he still have to make the drive so it wasn't like he was getting out of his way just for her. He had to make it to the arena and so did she so it was no big deal.

However, he would rather have a more pleasant ride than being surrounded by her silence and the faint sound of music playing in the background.

"So…" Ted breathed out and out of the corner of his eye he saw that she didn't even moved when he spoke. "Nattie told me that you'll start preparing the baby's room next week."

"Yeah, I bought a few things."

"Do you need help with that?" He asked because really, he wanted to help in everything he could and because he couldn't picture Maryse putting a crib together without it crumbling down…

"Not really; I didn't even buy a lot of stuff. I want to know the sex first before getting into a shopping frenzy." She said absentmindedly as she kept her eyes focused on the road ahead of them.

"Isn't it weird that we don't know the sex yet? I mean you are seven months pregnant and still nothing. There's an old wife's tale that says that if the baby doesn't show off her sex it's because it's a girl and she's being prude."

"And there's another one that says that if it's a girl she will steal all her mother's beauty by leaving stretch marks, messing her face and all that stuff. If that's true then it's obviously a boy because I'm looking better than ever."

Ted chuckled despite himself and shook his head without taking his eyes away from the road. "Vanity is a sin, you knew that?" He said in a lighthearted tone, wondering if Maryse was suddenly having one of those good moods moments.

"It's not a sin if all I'm saying is the truth." She said and for the first time since getting inside the car, she looked at him pushed the inside of her cheek with her tongue.

Ted snorted. Yes, that was the Maryse he knew and missed, the one that didn't act like she hated his guts. It may be true that she was a little conceited but he knew it wasn't like she lived in cloud nine thinking that she was the fairest of them all.

Sure, she had all she needed to act like she was because she really was and really, pregnancy just added to her a certain glow that was hard to ignore.

"Maybe it is a girl and the only reason you look the way you do is because you have all those lotions and crèmes you like putting on your belly all the time."

"That's called prevention… not that you would believe it but sometimes I'm good at preventing."

Stopping at a red light, Ted moved his head to the side and caught Maryse looking at him. She didn't look like she was mad but he couldn't say that she looked like she was having the time of her life either, she was just there… sitting and looking at him.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Ask, but I can't promise I'll give you an answer."

Nodding and taking in a deep breath, Ted blinked his eyes a few times and then opened his mouth to talk. She will probably not answer him, but that was a question he was been wanting to ask for months. "Do you think things would have been different if I would have spent the night in that room with you?"

Pursing her lips, Maryse moved her head to the side and sighed. "Why would things be different because of that?"

"I don't know, you say that the reason you got mad at me in the first place was because I never told you what happened when you mentioned not to remember a thing. So, that made me think that if you would have woke up with me there, you would have known it was me all along and thus there would be no reason for you to be mad."

Maryse sighed. "I don't know, knowing me I would probably find another reason to be mad at you so who knows?"

Nodding, Ted accepted the answer but to be honest it didn't satisfy his curiosity. He was a yes or no kind of guy and he made a mental note in his head to approach the subject next time he could catch her in a good mood. Sure, that could be after the delivery but what was waiting a two more months?

"Do you want me to tell you something?" He said with a big smile on his face as he looked her way while struggling in his mind to come up with the right words to say what he wanted to say.

"Ugh, don't tell me you still think about that night because I don't want to know." She said and he noticed that there was a trace of amusement in her voice.

That right there made his smile grow bigger. "That wasn't what I was going to tell you, but if you must know I do remember that night clearly as it was yesterday."

And he did, he remembered everything, from the way she smelled to the way she tasted and of course, how her naked skin felt pressed against his.

"Creep." She said with a roll of her eyes as she leered at him.

Taking a risk, Ted chuckled and licked his lips. "Why? Maryse, come on… you said that you remembered a few things so you have to admit that what happened in that room was really something else."

With his eyes fixed in her face, Ted watched as she wrinkled her nose and then moved his eyes to him. There was a sparkle in her eyes and once again he dared to hope that deep inside Maryse liked him more that she wanted to admit. "Ted, we have a green light; let's move so the loser behind stops honking…"

"Okay, okay…" He said taking a look and noticing that the light was indeed green. After noticing that, he moved the car forward and with the smile still on his face he fought the urge to look at her face once more. "I'm going to…"

Before he could finish talking, he saw out of the corner of his eye that there was a car on the wrong lane advancing at ridiculous speed towards his rental car and it took him a second to know that it was going to hit them.

It happened too fast, one second he was talking to Maryse and then before he could do anything he was being hit. He didn't even have time to move his car to the side so the impact could be on his end instead of right in front.

As the car spun around and as he felt broken glass flying all around, Ted's first concern was Maryse and instinct told him to use his body to cover her… at least that was what he wanted to do but the combination of the belt buckle restricting his movements and with the car getting out of control he just couldn't.

The moment lasted an eternity, but when he was able to come back to him he yanked the belt buckle away and turned around to face Maryse. "Are you okay, Maryse… look at me." He shouted something very close to panic consuming him his entrails. It wasn't until she opened her eyes to him that he was able to breathe again. "God…" He said, thanking the man above because at least she was responding. "Are you okay?"

The blonde nodded, but Ted noticed that she was too pale and that her face looked beyond strained.

"I'll get you out of here." He mumbled and got out of the car as fast as he could.

"Sir, sir… are you okay?"

Ignoring the voice that was obviously talking to him, Ted walked around the car. He didn't notice the other car that hit them or the man that was walking out of it and he definitely didn't notice the people gathering around to see what happened; all his attention was focused on getting to Maryse and take her out of that messed up car so he could take her to the nearest hospital.

With that in mind, he got to her door and glad that it opened with no problem, the third generation superstar eyes' settled on Maryse. She had her head thrown back against the seat, her eyes were closed, her hands were resting protectively over her growing belly and what really worried him to no end, there was a dark red spot staining her pants….

No, he knew where that blood was coming from and he didn't like it at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** I wrote this in a matter of nothing and I didn't double check it because I knew if I did I wasn't going to post it. So, if there are mistakes or incongruences please forgive me. Now let me tell you this, this chapter was both easy and hard to write… easy because everything flowed so nicely and hard because one, I don't know anything about giving births complications and two, because well… it was just hard to write an 'emotional filled chapter' for me. Anyway, hope you like it…

**LoVe DrUnk**

"This is all my fault." Ted said absentmindedly as he sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs that were strategically placed in line at the waiting room of the hospital Maryse was rushed into. He said the words without lifting his head, choosing instead to keep it cradled into his hands as he doubled over so he could rest his elbows to his knees.

For the past hour or so of his life he has been like that… waiting. Sometimes he waited while pacing around, sometimes he just stood beside the door that lead into the maternity ward and sometimes he just sat, his mind racing a thousand miles per second as time flew away with little news about what was going on.

He didn't like the waiting, in his mind a lot of things could be going on behind those doors and while everything was happening in there he was being kept in the dark and with no clue of what to do or what to think anymore.

So… while sitting there, Ted couldn't help but to think that it wasn't fair… he wanted to know… he needed to know and if he didn't get any kind of news in the next ten minutes or so he was going to walk right through that door and find out for himself.

"It was an accident, Ted, don't beat yourself for this." The woman sitting beside him said, her voice coming of as anxious and maybe a little worried.

Shaking his head, Dibiase straightened his back to the chair and looked at her. "I should have seen the car coming, Nattie… the car was coming right our way and I didn't see it until it was too late."

So yes, in his mind it was definitely his fault, because if he hadn't been too engrossed in whatever nonsense he has been thinking back at that moment, he would have seen the car coming and Maryse and his baby would be fine and perfect instead of being at the hospital being checked out for any kind of trauma.

After he mumbled his last words, the third generation Diva who was keeping him company while he waited shook her head as well and placing her hand over his she breathed out. "Just don't blame yourself, okay?"

Chuckling bitterly, Ted closed his eyes and bit on his lips. He wasn't in a mood to argue with Natalya so he said nothing, but if something happened to Maryse and his baby he was going to carry that burden for the rest of his life.

"Hey, I came as fast as I could. How is she?"

Opening his eyes, Ted looked up and saw that Randy was walking his way. He had what Ted considered a genuine look of concern in his face and the younger man couldn't help but to go back in memory lane to a past conversation he had with the current champion.

The conversation has been just after Ted casually told his friend that he was going to be a father. Back to that moment, Ted remembered how the other man had smiled and congratulated him and yeah, he will always remember that Randy has been the first person and probably the only one he ever told that ended up being happy for him instead of lecturing about how irresponsible he has been for knocking out one of the 'girls'.

According to Randy, becoming a father was the best thing that happened to him and the way he always talked about his daughter always made Ted smile and think about the unborn child Maryse was carrying within.

But now it was this, total chaos.

Blowing out a breath and watching as Randy took a seat at his side, Ted scratched his jaw and recited back what the Doctor told him in his last update.

"I don't know… because of the impact she had a placental abruption… that's when the placenta tears from the uterus and… well, the doctor says that depending on the severity of it and the distress it cause or something… I can't remember exactly but he said that in the severe cases both fetal and maternal mortality are very high. They are still checking on them to see."

"Jesus, that's…" Randy said and out of the corner of his eye, Ted could see Natalya wiping at her eyes. "Did you call your dad?"

Ted nodded. His dad was the first person he called and his old man promised to take the first plane he could to be there. In the meanwhile, he promised that he was going to keep Maryse and the baby in his prayers.

His next call has been Randy and then Natalya… and he would have called Maryse's mother or something but he didn't know how to reach her. Thankfully, Natalya said she was going to take care of that so he didn't stress about it.

"How about you, did you get that checked?" Randy said and Ted knew his friend was referring to a stingy cut he had on his forehead. His neck was also bothering him but that didn't matter in that moment.

"I'm fine."

"He didn't want to get check." Natalya said and Ted shrugged. He got it clean by the woman's insistence and that was about it, because he wasn't going to leave that waiting room for anything in the world.

"You should…"

Before Randy could finish his words, the doors opened and the same doctor who talked to Ted a while back came out. Ted immediately got to his feet and walked to him. "How is she? Is the baby going to be alright?"

"We are going to induce labor." The doctor said and Ted felt both alarmed and relieved. "The mother loosing too much blood and she is what we call clinically in distress. Now, the baby is just twenty-eight weeks so there might be some complications and we will have to use an incubator as soon as the delivery is done. Come on, you can come in."

Ted didn't waste any time and without looking back to where Randy and Natalya were sitting, he walked after the doctor until he was lead into a room where a few nurses gave him scrubs to wear and even patched the cut above his eyebrow. They also gave him a few instructions that he agreed without paying attention and after that he was taken to the room Maryse was in. It was only when his eyes fell on her he was able to breathe normally.

Sure, she was looking way to pale and her eyes were tightly closed; but he could see her hands clutching hard at the bed sheets and that was a good indication that she was alert and awake. He has been afraid that he was going to find her passed out and bleeding to death.

Not that the sight wasn't a bit disheartening, after all there were a few cables glued to her stomach and connected to a few machines and Maryse seemed to be in a good deal of pain. She was breathing hard, she was clearly tensing her jaw and her skin was moist with a thin layer of transpiration.

But overall, she was alive and that was all in mattered to him.

Swallowing hard and once he walked to her, the Southerner ventured to use his hand to brush a strand of platinum blonde hair out of her face and then without even thinking about it he leaned forward and kissed her lips briefly.

At the contact, Maryse opened her eyes and tilted her head towards him. Clearly recognizing him, the French-Canadian closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again. "They want me to deliver the baby, Ted… it's too soon, I can't."

Still using his hand to soother her by running it through her hair, Ted leaned even more into her and kissing her a second time he pressed his forehead to hers. "It's for the best, the baby is going to be alright… you'll see."

The blonde shook her head. "It's too soon." Then, a second after her words were out a beeping sound started to come out of one of the machines and Ted's eyes moved to it. The sound was accompanied by Maryse's crying out in discomfort and Ted couldn't do anything but to watch her suffer her pain alone.

"What is it?" He asked, worried.

"That's a contraction." One of the nurses said while approaching Maryse to check on her. Once the so called contraction was done she suspiciously placed herself right between Maryse's legs and Ted assumed she was checking her down there. For some reason that made him feel a bit uncomfortable and he tried not to look. "She's seven centimeters already, good."

But then, another machine went off and Maryse cried out once again. She blindly fumbled for Ted's hand and once she found it she almost strangled it, clutching at it with all the strength she apparently had in her.

The nurse, who just a minute ago was telling him about how good it was that Maryse was seven centimeters already, took a look at the machine and without spearing them a second glance she walked out calling the doctor.

Ted didn't like that at all but because Maryse was painfully holding to his hand, he wasn't able to walk after her to ask her what was going on.  
>"It's going to be okay…" He whispered, using his other hand to tentatively touch her belly. The first thing he noticed was that it was hard as a rock and he wondered if that was good too. He also couldn't help but to remember what Maryse told him, twenty-eight weeks was too early.<p>

As he mused about all that and while Maryse gasped out loud, the doctor finally rushed in and Ted watched as in a dream as he checked the monitors, Maryse and consequentially the monitors once again.

"Should we prepare her for a c-section?" The nurse asked and Ted did a double take.

"What's going on?" A c-section? But why...? He didn't get it.

"No. There's no time, we have to deliver this baby now or we can lose them both."

The words hit Ted like a blow to the stomach and for a moment he couldn't speak, he couldn't breathe and he definitely couldn't move. Things happened in a blur, everything happened so fast. A few more nurses rushed in, the doctor sat between the gap in Maryse's legs and then he and one of the nurses started to urge Maryse to push.

Meanwhile and holding her hand while feeling all the blood drain down to his feet, Ted focused his attention in Maryse. Apparently, the efforts of pushing a baby through a seven centimeter opening wasn't as easy as it has been for him to put it in and just to think about it was making him feel her pain too.

It was a cliché, but he really felt like fainting and the only thing that was keeping him alert was the memory of what the doctor said. Somehow, he was afraid that if he did as much as blink too slowly, he was going not only to lose sight of Maryse forever, but he was also going to lose a baby he never got to meet…

So no, he wasn't going to faint or blink until he was certain that they were going to be alright.

So that's how the next fifteen minutes or so went by, with Ted mumbling a few encouraging words to Maryse while the blonde kept pushing and pushing until the doctor said he could see the baby's head and that he needed one big push for it to be over.

He wasn't sure, but almost as if he was walking in a dream, he didn't took his eyes away of Maryse's strained face while she gave that one last push and then, according to the doctor that was it.

Feeling his eyes get blurry, Ted moved them away from Maryse and prayed in silence for his ears to detect even if it was the faintest cry coming from where the baby was; but he didn't, he didn't hear anything at all.

"Is the baby ok?" He asked, holding his breath and watching as the nurses took a very small baby that could only be his own. Then, before he could take a good look they took it away in a rush.

Ted followed them with his eyes, but once they were gone and just when he was about to demand the doctor to tell him what was going on, he saw that Maryse was still lying there, with her face hidden behind her hands as she cried in silence.

He didn't know what it was, but for a second he honestly forgot about the baby and his attention was back to her. So leaning forward, Ted took Maryse's hands in his and moved them away so he could assume the same position he took when he came in, the one where he was resting his forehead to hers.

"They didn't even let me see my baby." Maryse sobbed and for a third time he kissed her full on the lips. He didn't know why he did it, but under the circumstances he just felt like doing it and he would do it a thousand times if he could.

"They must be checking everything is fine…" It took all the effort he had in him to say those words without choking on them because he didn't know what was going on. For all he knew the baby died and only to think about it forced him to swallow hard as he felt his eyes watering.

"Go and check, I don't want the baby to be alone… Ted, please…" Maryse cried and wiping at his own eyes he nodded.

Yes, Maryse was right. Whatever was going on with their baby, he or she shouldn't be alone… if the baby was alive and he was going to put all his faith in that, he was going to be there, watching over until Maryse could go and do it herself.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews, last chapter was a bit hard for me to write so I really appreciated to read what you had to say about it, it meant a lot and you guys are great ;)

_**LoVe DrUnK: Chapter 8**_

"She doesn't want to eat; she didn't even glance at the food when it was brought over and just went to sleep."

Blinking her eyes open and staring directly into the wall opposite to the door, Maryse slowly sucked into her mouth her upper lip and sighed profoundly as the hushed voice of Natalya penetrated deep into her head.

No, despite what her friend was saying she was far for sleeping, and since she was not deaf she could hear perfectly fine the things she was telling Ted. It was like this, ever since he walked back into the room and asked how she was doing, the Second Generation Diva began to rant about Maryse not wanting to eat; she also told him that she just got out of the shower and that the doctor came to check on her a little over an hour ago and deemed that she was as good as anyone who delivered a baby the day before could be.

Ted sounded satisfied about the last part, but then Natalya told him the rest of the 'diagnosis' and his tone changed, he wanted to talk to the doctor himself.

It didn't surprised Maryse that he would say that, especially after what the doctor said. According to him, Maryse was not presenting any sign of physical trauma and since the hemorrhage could be controlled soon after the delivery she was perfectly fine. But even though, he still wanted to keep her under observation for six more days because there was always the risk of a postpartum hemorrhage and in case that happened she was going to need a blood transfusion.

"A blood transfusion? But she's alright, isn't she?"

"She's alright, the doctor said that it probably won't come to that but in case it did it was best for her to be here under hospital care. What she needs is to eat, the last thing she ate was a toast and that was this morning. I basically had to push it down her throat."

"That bad?" Ted asked, his voice low and sounding tired.

"You know how she is, it's a miracle I was able to make her eat at least that."

"Maybe I should I buy her something else." Ted said, mimicking Natalya's whispering tone and Maryse could see them in her mind's eye, standing close together while talking about her. "Maybe she just doesn't like this stuff."

"Maybe." Natalya said and then as an after-thought she added. "She went to see the baby."

"Oh," Ted said almost in a growl and Maryse closed her eyes tight and automatically brushed her hand to her stomach. It felt weird not to feel a baby bump there; it was almost as if she lost a part of herself that she will always miss. "How did she take it?"

"I don't know… not so good, but she hasn't said much since then."

Dragging her hand from her stomach to her face, Maryse used the tip of her fingers so she could wipe her stinging eyes. She tried to it without Ted and Natalya noticing because she didn't want them to know that she was awake. It would have been best if she didn't move at all, but it was just that the memory of that first visit to the NICU was a bitter-sweet memory for her and her eyes were unable to control themselves from tearing up a bit.

Sure, like a nursery nurse kindly told her before taking her to the incubator where her baby was, it was a miracle on itself that the baby survived the trauma of delivery and only for that she should be thankful. And she was, the day before she could only go to sleep when Ted told her that the baby was alive and even a day after that she couldn't be grateful enough for that miracle…

But earlier that day when she finally saw the baby for the first time it felt as if her heart broke in a thousand pieces and she still wasn't feeling like herself.

Yes, at only two and a half pounds her baby girl was alive, but she was hooked to innumerable machines, her eyes were covered up so the light wouldn't blind her and she was so tiny that she was sure Ted's hand was bigger than her entire body. She hadn't even been able to hold her delicate little body and she had to be content to watch her through the glass of the incubator while caressing her little arm with one of her fingers.

It was heartbreaking, Maryse never considered herself to be a person who would easily allow for things to beat her down but in all honesty, seeing her baby like that really got to her.

Maybe it was karma, as she remembered that when she first started to suspect that she was pregnant, the first though to cross her mind was that it better not be true or else she was screwed. Now life was making her pay that thought by putting her baby in a situation where she had to fight for her life.

Feeling the mattress of her hospital bed sinking under the weight of someone sitting on it, Maryse opened her eyes as this someone's hand brushed the hair out of her face. "Maryse-"

It was Ted, his voice was unmistakable and when he leaned into her she could even distinguish the scent of him. "Como on, you have to eat something."

"I'm not hungry." The blonde French Canadian mumbled under her breath and Ted's hand slid to her arm so it could settle there. She was still showing him her back so she couldn't see him, but she definitely could feel him.

It was funny, that was how it all started. Maryse unable to see him but feeling him nonetheless.

"What about a coffee? I saw a Starbucks down the street; do you want me to get you one?" That was Natalya and Maryse shook her head no.

She didn't want food or coffee or anything.

"Get her one, she'll drink it." Ted said and Natalya said something about getting three coffees, one for each.

Once she was gone, Ted used the hand he had on Maryse's arm and gently forced her to sit down. Maybe she didn't know it, but Ted was going to make her eat her food whether she liked it or not. "Come on, you know you have to eat something. Let's make a deal, eat half of this and I'll get you one of those ketchup chips you love so much."

"Are you going to Canada to buy them?" Maryse asked just because she didn't think he was going to do that.

"Don't you know? I bought like two dozens of them and have them hidden somewhere in my bag… you know, after the first time you said you wanted some of those things and they were nowhere I could find them, I decided to be prepared in case you would ask me once again for them. Sure, that first time I drove to ten different gas stations only to find out they were not sold in the USA. Not that you would know that, I mean when I came back empty handed you were already gone with Natalya."

Shaking her head and smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, the blonde Diva shrugged. "You are crazy," She didn't remember asking Ted to buy her Ketchup Chips that first time he was talking about, but she did remember that in a few occasions she would mention to him how she would love some and Ted going away for a while only to come back with a bag for her.

It was amazing, but she never put too much thought to it.

Smiling, Ted lowered his eyes and moving his hand away he took hold of the spoon that was set in the tray next to her bed. With it he took some of the potato salad and brought it close to her lips. "Three of these and I'll let you off the hook. Now open up."

Rolling her eyes, Maryse opened her mouth and ate what Ted gave her. It was cold already and the taste was horrendous, but after repeating it three times he did like he said he was going to do and pushed the tray away, leaving only the juice that Maryse took to wash down the taste of the food.

Once that was done and still sitting next to her, Ted fixed his blue eyes on her warm hazel ones and Maryse tilted her head. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," He responded with a sigh as his hand went to scratch the light stubble that took over his jaw.

Watching him, Maryse noticed that he looked as tired as she was feeling. After all he spent the night at the hospital and only when Natalya came back that morning and convinced him to go and rest was when he left, saying that he was just going to take a shower, change and eat something.

He was gone for around three hours and by the looks of him, he didn't spend them sleeping.

"What did you think when you first saw the baby?"

Pushing the corner of his lips with the tip of his tongue, the WWE wrestler arched an eyebrow while keeping his eyes glued to hers. "I thanked God that she was alive… but at the same time I couldn't help but to think that she was so… small."

Feeling his hand slid to hers, Maryse nodded, glad that his thoughts were similar to hers.

"I also thought that she was perfect… and that she looks just like you."

"You think so?" She asked because to her to the baby didn't resemble anyone in particular as she was too little to tell. But… "I did notice that she didn't have your ears."

"The Dibiase ears? These ears are perfect." He said squinting his eyes; then he puffed out a breath and snorted. "Let me see yours." With his other hand Ted brushed Maryse's blonde hair behind her ear and through half closed eyes he observed her. "Meh, they are so and so,"

Maryse arched an eyebrow, feeling very aware that even though Ted lowered the hand away from her hair, his other hand was still taking hers in; his fingers lacing with hers as he focused his eyes back to her face.

In that moment she wanted to ask him if he thought the baby was going to be alright, but instead of doing that and for some reason she couldn't understand, she ended up leaning against him so she could rest her head to his shoulder.

At that unexpected movement, Ted's free hand went back to her hair, only that instead of brushing it away he just rested it to the back of her neck. For what felt like the longest time ever, the two of them remained like that, each one submerged in their own thoughts.

"Ted-" Maryse started to say and this time she was going to ask about his take on their baby's health; but before she could finish, Ted lifted her head to his and taking her by surprise but without being forceful, he pressed his lips to hers.

It wasn't the first time he did that… and when she said it she meant kissing her after their fateful night together several months before. Just the previous day he has done it and not once but twice. In those two times she hadn't been in her right mind to put too much to it but she noticed, something like Ted kissing her on the lips was hard to overlook.

But this time… this time it was different because one, his lips were lingering longer and two, because… well, because it just felt different.

This time she was more aware of the way his stubble was brushing against her skin, on how the way his lips were so soft and yet firm and especially on the way his hand was holding her head to his while his fingers delved into her hair.

This time it definitely felt more personal and she was secretly enjoying it. After all it has been a while since she has been kissed like that in that moment more than ever; the human contact was more than welcomed.

Breathing into his kiss, Maryse felt Ted nudging at her lips with his teeth and soon after his tongue was seeking entrance. She granted it, not even thinking about it, she just parted her lips to him so he could deepen the kiss and entice her with the warmness of his mint flavored tongue.

Tilting her head to the right while Ted moved his to the left, the two of them kissed long and deep, tongues melting and fusing against one another as they shared the same breath, just like they did on a night long ago; but then, as if the contact was burning her, Maryse pulled away from the kiss and before Ted could say or do anything, she went back to lay down over the bed.

"You shouldn't have done that." She said while turning to her side. Nope, he definitely shouldn't have and she shouldn't have kissed him back. It was just wrong, their baby was at the neonatal intensive care unit trying to survive so the last thing they should be doing was kissing… and stuff.

Instead of kissing they should be worrying about her and waiting for the next visit so they could see her once again.

Ted didn't respond to that, and after some time where she could still feel him sitting on the bed next to her, he finally got to his feet and left…


	9. Chapter 9

If there was something to be said about Ted Dibiase, Jr, it was that he was a very patient man; that and that he would rarely lose his temper unless the situation really called for it. It was simple, he was a very easy going guy, he got along with everybody and to that day he would take pride in the fact that his mother had raised a good man that would first cut his arm off before ever thinking of raising his hand against a woman.

But that night… God, it was really hard to explain but he was fighting very hard against the urge of getting up to his feet, grab the damn woman sitting at the chair at the other side of the bed by the hair and kick her out of the room.

It was a miracle that he has refrained even from telling her just to shut up and he was amazed at the auto control he has inflicted upon himself over this one.

"You know what's nice, that at least you didn't get super huge. You were pregnant just the necessary amount time; I mean you were at a point where you looked cute with your belly but didn't necessarily look bloated or worse, with stretch marks all over."

"Oh my God Rosa, that's… just shut up okay." He said with a grimace of disgust all over his face; he couldn't help it.

"What? It's true." The Latina said with a shrug. "It's no secret that the last months of pregnancy are the worst. You can't sleep, you get cramps, you get huge and some women just don't look good being nine months pregnant. Besides, you can't argue that she delivered her baby way much easier than it would be with a bigger baby."

Slapping his face, Ted closed his eyes and counted to ten. He was really losing it with this woman and he didn't want to make things worse by telling her a thing or two in front of Maryse.

It was bad already as it was and he didn't want to upset the mother of his baby even more than she already was. With his luck, she would get mad and refuse to talk to him ever again.

He didn't want that; it took him almost the whole week to get back on her 'good graces' after that little incident where he forgot himself and kissed her and he didn't want to risk it once again.

Not at all…

Listening to the door being opened, the third generation wrestler opened his eyes and saw Natalya coming in. At the sight of her he breathed out in relief, knowing that the blonde Canadian wouldn't stop herself from telling Rosa to keep her thoughts to herself in a more effective way.

"You look pretty." Rosa said to Maryse and Ted quirked his lips.

Of all the crap she has said in the last hour or so, at least she finally said something that might cheer Maryse up even if it was a little bit.

"Just don't cry or anything when you have to go, it will ruin your make-up."

"I'm not going to cry." Maryse said while sitting over the bed, but even when she said that, her eyes wouldn't stop staring down at her hands.

Ted couldn't help but to notice those things; and as he observed the pretty blonde he could say without a doubt that she has been in somewhat of a sad mood since she walked out of the nursery to see the baby. She hadn't said anything about it, in fact she has said very little since then, but she hadn't looked up even once since coming back and to Ted, her silence was speaking louder than any words could.

Things only got worse when the nurse said they were going to send a wheelchair that would take her down to the lobby of the hospital and Ted had a feeling that she did want to cry.

"Good. Here, let me get your purse, if they are going to wheel you out of here, then you'll at least good look and what better way to look good than a Louis Vuitton hand bag."

Shaking his head, Ted rolled his eyes and then sent Natalya a pleading glance. The Diva seemed to be in sync with him and she sent him a reassuring smile.

"Rosa… come on, I'll walk you to your car."

Looking back at Natalya, the Latina arched an eyebrow and then laughed. "Oh okay, okay. Let's leave these two lovebirds to themselves." After saying that, she grabbed her own purse and made a parade of going to Maryse to kiss her cheek. "I'll call you, okay?" Turning around, she walked to Ted and kissed his cheek too, taking a moment to run her fingers down his arm. "I'll call you too if you want." Laughing, she waved him off. "I'm kidding, you just keep things PG and don't get my friend here pregnant again; Dr. said you should stay away from her for thirty days."

Despite himself, Ted snorted. Not because of what Rosa said, but because the last thing he expected was Maryse letting him get near her in the next thirty years. As things were going, he had a better chance of meeting some woman, date her and finally marrying her than he would have of he and Maryse getting together.

Not that he didn't want that to happen; he liked Maryse very much and when he saw himself in a situation where he could have lost her for good, he realized that he was just not going to keep sitting around and doing nothing while life passed them by.

Sure, the first step he took of kissing her while her mind wasn't in the right place was not a good idea, at least it hadn't been in that moment; but after Maryse would go back to herself, he was definitely going to have a good one on one talk with her where he was going to let everything he had inside out.

What happened after that was up to her, but at least he would always know that he tried.

But that would be for later, now he needed to focus on getting Maryse out of that hospital and make sure she was going to be alright on her own. As for his baby, well… the baby was going to be in good hands, in the hospital she had doctors and nurses that would keep her under observation so his mind was at peace with her staying there.

The one that worried him was Maryse.

Once Rosa and Natalya left, Ted went back to sitting on his chair and moments after a nurse came with the wheelchair. It was protocol, and without saying anything they all went down to the lobby.

What followed was pretty much went on with the same line of silence; Ted got the car, Ted helped Maryse into the car and then he drove to the hotel. Since Maryse had refused to take a flight back to LA unless she had her daughter with her, Ted had decided to get her a hotel room near the hospital and a car so she could drive back and forth to see the baby.

It was all he could do, he wished he could do more but the fact was that he couldn't.

Once in the hotel room, Maryse dropped her purse down to the chair and went to open the door to the room right away. Ted knew she was probably going to lock herself in and sleep until the hospital would allow her back to visit the baby so he decided to step in with her and keep her mind occupied.

"I'm going to order something to eat, anything in particular that you want?"

"No." She said, taking off her shoes without even looking at him.

Ted didn't mind, he just ordered something he thought she may like and while keeping an eye on her. Just like he knew she would do, she climbed in bed, threw a pillow over her head and apparently went to sleep.

Hanging up the phone, Ted went to sit on the King's size bed right besides Maryse and took in a deep breath. "Tomorrow I have to go back to the road, do you want me to tell my mom to come down here to keep you company?" In fact, he had already talked to his mom about staying a few more days with Maryse and she didn't mind. Now it was just a matter of Maryse saying yes and that was it.

"No."

Rolling his eyes, Ted turned around and tentatively placed the palm of his hand to her back. "I don't want you to stay here alone, my mom won't even mind."

"Your mom doesn't like me."

"Of course she does." He said, unable not to think of the time he convinced the blonde of going out to dinner with his parents. Both his mom and his dad had wanted to know Maryse and thankfully the blonde accepted. It has been kind of weird, he want' going to lie, but overall it went alright.

That night after dinner was done he was driving her back to her hotel and she mentioned the same thing about his mother don't liking her and he brushed it off as Maryse being Maryse.

Of course his mom liked her, his mom just liked everybody and Maryse wasn't the exception. Did she have her doubts about _her_ being the mother of her grandchild? Well… Ted knew for a fact that his mom wasn't thrilled about him was having a baby with a former Playboy model and she once threw the comment about the irony of Ted never having kids with his ex-wife but having one with Maryse.

But that was the way his mom was and he was sure that she would never do or act in any way that could make Maryse feel bad about herself; in fact she has even said that she didn't mind taking another flight their way so she could keep Maryse some company.

"I won't be here much anyway, I'm going to be in the hospital during the day and you know she can't go into NICU." Maryse said referring to the fact that the wing where their baby was being kept under observation was a restricted area where only the parents could go into.

"I know… but I still don't want you to be here all by yourself. Did your mom fix her Visa issues?"

"No; they are still going through some paper work."

Nodding, Ted blew out a breath. He really didn't want to go and leave Maryse in that hotel; not when right in that moment her mom was unable to leave the country and all her family was up in Canada. And with her friends going back to the road as well that only meant that she was going to be pretty much alone.

"I'm worried about you, you know? We are all worried about you." He admitted, hoping that his words would make her react because really, even Rosa with all her nonsense has been trying to cheer her up with no luck. Sure, when it came to the Latina she probably would have done better by not saying anything, but the fact was that everyone from Natalya to her sister Michelle back in Canada were worried about her.

He has talked to them all and that seemed to be the general consensus. Hell, even a few of the guys had called to check on her and among those guys were two he never would have expected, Punk and Mike. Mike he knew Maryse had a history with, but he had no clue she and Punk were friends or whatever.

"I'm fine. I just want to sleep."

Shaking his head no, Ted grabbed Maryse by the shoulders and made her sit down. While doing so, the pillow fell to the floor and the French-Canadian mumbled something under her breath that felt pretty much as a complain.

But Ted didn't mind whatever she said; he just placed a finger to her chin and lifted her face to his. "No you are not; and it's not like I want you to feel all happy because you had to leave the baby back at the hospital; trust me, I want her to be healthy enough so we can take her out of there as much as you do. But right now we can't do that and Maryse… you can't just keep going like this. You are not eating right, you are retreating into yourself and other than go into the nursery to see her, the only thing you do is sleep. That's not healthy and you know it."

This time Maryse was the one that shook her head no; she did it while blinking a couple of times and breathing deeply. But she didn't say anything however and other than looking up to the ceiling she did nothing.

"Talk to me-"

"It's just… none of you understands how it feels…" Lifting a hand to her face so she could wipe her eyes, Maryse breathed in and bit on her lips.

But for all her effort to keep them away, a few tears escaped her eyes and Ted used his thumb to prevent them from falling lower than her cheeks. Now, he didn't like to see her like that, so frail and vulnerable but deep inside he was glad that she was showing some emotions. For the last week she has being acting as if she was made out of stone and the only traces of humanity he would see on her was inside the nursery.

Ted knew she wasn't acting like that because she wasn't feeling anything; no… she has been acting that way because she was feeling too much and she didn't want to let anyone see this. So now, the fact that she was letting go even if it was a little with him made him feel good in a weird kind of way.

"Okay, maybe you are right and none of us know how you feel; but remember that she is my daughter too and I worry about her as well. You know who else I worry, you. The baby is going to be great and in no time you'll have her home with you, changing diapers and waking up every three or four hours to warm up some milk and all the things you moms usually do; but to do that you need to be healthy and fine and if you don't eat, you won't be able to take good care of her, now will you?"

Blinking her tears away, Maryse looked up to him and Ted smiled to her. In that moment his hopes were high and he really hoped that Maryse would tell him that yes, she was going to take better care of herself and that she was going to pull up out of this one.

But instead of saying that, what the blonde did was close the distance that separated them and ever so lightly, she pressed her lips to his.

It was a feather light kiss; just her lips brushing against his in the chastest of ways; but to Ted the kiss was more than his mind could ever hope for.

He didn't even know what to do, should he put more pressure to it, should he grab her face in his hands and kiss her like he did last time… he knew she has responded well that last time but he also knew that seconds after she was pulling back and retreating into herself.

He didn't want that, so instead he just let her set the pace and her pace was that she pulled away in less than three seconds.

Looking up at him with all the intensity of her liquid warm hazel eyes, Maryse shrugged. "You know, sometimes I do wish you would have stay in my room that night." She said, and as soon as her words were out he remembered the conversation they had right before the accident.

With those words dancing inside his mind, Ted nodded and licked his lips. "I wish that every day." In fact, that he hadn't stay was the biggest regret he had in his life. He regretted it more than he regretted getting divorced to his high school sweetheart and that was a lot considering the weight of it.

At his words, Maryse lowered her eyes and her lips curved into the phantom of a smile. "I think your food is here."

As soon as she said that, his ears picked up a knock on the door and he almost groaned out loud. Talk about bad timing, there he was, almost sure that he was having a moment with Maryse there and it was being ruined!

Fuck food, what he wanted now was to go deeper into what Maryse just said before she would go back into herself.

"Are you going to get that?" She said almost dreamily or maybe she was just tired…

Chuckling, Ted ran his hand down his jaw and shook his head. "I… can we keep talking about this when I come back?"

"I don't know, maybe… just go get the food; if you want me to eat that is."

Jumping to his feet, Ted hurried to get the food. Yes, maybe Maryse wouldn't want to talk about it afterwards, but that little thing she said right there was enough for him to be content.

It might not mean anything… but at the same time it might mean everything. Like Natalya once told him, Maryse only did things on her time and hopefully, her… their time was near.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Sorry it took me so long to update, I got distracted for a second and kind of forgot about this one. It's not much and I wrote it thinking about what I want to happen in next chapter so it's kind of a fill in. I hope you like it anyways and thanks so much for the nice reviews.

**LOVE DRUNK**

Pushing the inside of his cheek with his tongue and arching an eyebrow high in his brow, Ted Dibiase Jr, allowed his back to rest against the sofa he was sitting on as he lazily ran the palm of his hand over his full stomach. Once he was comfortable enough he tilted his head to the side, his blue eyes immediately getting caught up with the image of the woman sitting by his side.

She was quiet; in fact, ever since he managed to get her out of bed so that they could eat the food he ordered, she hadn't said much. A yes here, a no there and from time to time she would even venture to say something that wasn't a monosyllable… like when he asked her if she liked the food and she responded with an 'I guess'.

The lack of conversational skills she seemed to be suffering didn't frustrate Ted, quite the contrary; he was very pleased that she agreed to eat with him somewhere else that wasn't in bed and even more pleased when she ate her share of without complaining about it.

True, she didn't eat all of it but in his mind it was a great progress that she at least ate more than the half.

So yeah, he was content by that… and that was without mentioning how pleased he was that earlier on she kissed him.

It hadn't been him the one that kissed her, it was all her and this time she couldn't say that she was drunk and out of her mind. She kissed him… a small peck on the lips that didn't last more than five seconds but a kiss nonetheless.

Not that he really believed that a rare event like that could happen again anytime soon, but at least he knew that for one time only, with her mind clear and with the full knowledge that it was him, Maryse was the one who kissed him.

Unable to help it, the corner of his lips curved into a smile and he shifted positions so he could face her.

"So…" He said casually, his sparkling blue eyes searching for hers while his mind took joy in the way she tilted her head up to him so she could meet his stare with her lovely hazel orbs.

He didn't know what it was but he really liked it when she looked at him like that and in that particular moment, he got lost into her eyes and for a moment he forgot what he was about to say.

It was for a second though because as soon as he realized how stupid he was probably looking he blinked his eyes away and blew out of a breath.

"Have you thought about a name for the baby?" He asked because one, he wanted to know and two, he felt like he needed to say something to break the silence.

At the mention of her daughter, Maryse face lit up a little, but then she sighed and slumping her shoulder she wrinkled her nose. "I can't make up my mind."

Humming and wanting to make her smile, Ted shrugged. "What about this, let's name her Theodora."

"Ugh, no way!" Maryse said as soon as the name was brought up and even though she didn't flash him one of those full smiles she used give around so freely before they began to fall apart, her lips did crack a little.

"Why not? It's a beautiful name?"

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head a little, Maryse opened her mouth to respond. "Actually… I was between Sophia and Valery; what do you think?"

Tilting his head to the other side and looking up to the ceiling, Ted thought about it and decided that yes, he liked both names. "Sophia Dibiase or Valery Dibiase. I like them…"

"Well, I can't decide which one I like better." Maryse said with a shrug and then she did the unimaginable… she leaned against Ted and rested her head against his chest.

For a moment the two of them remained like that, Ted immobile and trying to remember when was the last time she acted so comfortable with him Maryse breathing softly as her hand came to rest over one of his knees.

"Ted?"

"Uh?" He said, the word sounding very dumb once it escaped his lips. How was it that he lost all eloquence just by having Maryse resting against him?

Sure, the last few months had been tough on their friendship but before the whole thing began they were good friends and not that they would spend their days touching each other, but back in the day they would touch in a friendly manner like she was doing now and it never made his mind run a thousand miles per second like it was doing in that moment.

"I never put the crib together."

At the tone she used when saying that, Ted snorted, allowing his hand to casually rest on her arm. He waited a moment and when no protest came he began to speak. "Good… we didn't want the crib falling apart anyway; why don't we do this? Give me the key to your apartment and before baby Dibiase is released from the hospital I'll take some time to finish her room."

"No, I want to be there to finish the room. Besides I'm not done buying things."

"Then come with me; in a day we could be done with everything."

She breathed in against him and he felt her head move a little. "I can't." She said and he remembered how set she was with the thought that she had to be near the hospital at all times so she could visit the baby every day.

He understood her, but rationally speaking he didn't think that she should spend the whole time the baby was going to be in the hospital away from home. After all he made some research and the time a premature baby was expected to stay in the hospital was around two months, sometimes even more.

So if she remained there, who was going to take her of her business? What about her bills, what about when she ran out of clothes and like she said, what about the baby's room?

There has been some talk about transferring the baby to a hospital in LA; the Drs said it was safe since she was going to travel in her incubator and all that, but at the end it has been decided that they would wait until the baby was a bit stronger than she was now and the estimated time was from four to six weeks.

Meaning that a whole month could pass by until she would willingly return to her place.

Breathing in and knowing that he would lose his time by trying to make her change her mind, Ted looked down; he was only able to see the top of her head and leaning his face forward he pressed his lips into her hair.

On her part, Maryse remained resting there, her breathing at unison with his as his fingers began to move lazily up her arm, taking in the texture of her soft skin as his finger moved by their own accord.

"Can I tell you something?" He said, not giving too much thought about what he wanted to say because if he did, he would end up saying nothing.

Humming, the blonde Diva snuggled closer to him and Ted smiled. "What is it?"

"You scared me; after the accident I was really afraid that you and the baby were not going to make it and I was going crazy. Just to think about it sends chills down my spine and I don't know, after that I can only think that I don't want to stay on tip toes over the line you put between us and you know, I've been wondering… if there would be a chance, even the smallest one that we could try things out…"

Snorting softly without moving her head up to look at him, Maryse breathed out. "Are you asking me out?"

"Well… maybe?" He said with a frown and as he mused about what he just said, he understood what his dad told him once about starting things backwards. First he got her pregnant and then he was asking her out…

"You know I can't think about that now, Ted."

Content with the fact that at least she didn't blurted out a no, Ted closed his eyes and inhaled on the sweet aroma of her shampoo. "I know… I just want you to think about it."

Humming again, Maryse dragged her hand up to his hip and for a while they remained like that, resting against each other as time passed them by.

After several minutes, Ted moved his other hand to her hair, and when she made no movement whatsoever he wondered if she has fallen asleep…

"Maryse-" He whispered and got no response.

He chuckled, running his fingers through her soft hair to see if she would wake up. She didn't, and as much as he liked the fact that he had the mother of his child sleeping on him he knew he had to wake her up.

"Maryse, wake up…" He said again and this time she startled, moving away from him. "Hello there sleeping beauty."

At that the blonde blinked, her check tinged with red as a result of pressing it against him and her warm eyes shining with sleep. She looked stunning like that and it took all the effort in him not to lean into her and kiss her…

Would she kiss him back if he did? Maybe, he wanted to believe that Maryse was at least attracted to him even if it was the slightest bit and he wanted to prove that theory by kissing her and see what she would do.

But he also knew that this was not the time for such a thing, she was still upset about the baby and even if she would go along with him, she may ended up regretting it later and he didn't want that.

It has taken him a long time to be where he was now with her and he didn't want to risk it.

"You are tired, why don't you go to bed?" He said softly and with a dramatic roll of her eyes that was purely Maryse, she mumbled something about not wanting to move. "Come on, I'll help you out."

With that said, he got up to his feet and grabbed her hands to help her up as well. Then he walked her back into the room and once she was standing next to the bed he observed as she threw herself over the soft mattress.

Smiling at the sight of her, Ted turned around and was about to walk out when she called him. "Don't go, come here with me."

Upon hearing those words, Ted turned around and through half closed eyelids he looked at her. She was laying on her side, hair all over the pillow and her eyes were closed.

"Don't look at me like that because I'm not going to jump on you, we'll only sleep."

Chuckling, Ted lifted a hand and ran it down his face. "I didn't say anything about you jumping on me… you did."

"Ugh, never mind. Go sleep somewhere else then."

Shaking his head and walking towards the bed, Ted climbed on top of it.

He would never understand the how this woman's mind really worked, but playing along with her he laid by her side and then he tentatively pressed to her so he could wrap his arm around her waist.

She didn't protest that and for the longest while he just held her close, breathing into her scent without moving a muscle. It was nice to be with her like that and just when he could feel that he was starting to drift off as well, he brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckled.

"Good night, Maryse..."


	11. Chapter 11

LOVE DRUNK

"Ted, you said this wasn't going to be too much trouble so why are you taking so long?" Maryse asked with a hint of amusement in her voice as she entered the room Ted was working in.

Once inside she put the box she has been carrying in her arms down on the floor and placing her hands on her hips she took a look towards the southerner's direction.

On his part, as soon as he listened to her voice manifest in that thick accent that characterized her, Ted stopped what he was doing for a second and glanced back at her. "Because I'm doing it right. Or what, do you want me to do it in two minutes so it would crumble down as soon as you put Sophia on it?"

"Hmm, I would have done it better and faster." She said tapping the tip of her forefinger to her lips and shrugging dramatically.

At that Ted smiled, arching an eyebrow and then snorting. "Better and faster? I don't think so, this right here is work for real man and not for a snobby French Canadians chick."

Maryse blinked a couple of times and then she flipped at her hair. "Snobby? Are you calling me snobby?"

Getting up to his feet and leaving the still the unfinished crib on the floor, Ted stretched his libs and turned around to face Maryse. "Well, yeah. I mean look at this room, you spent a small fortune in decoration and what's worse, you paid double the price for a gallon of paint just because it's eco-friendly…"

"That's not being snobby, it's called being responsible, environmentally conscious and caring for my daughters health." She said in that way only Maryse had of talking before blowing out of her face a lose strand of hair that escaped her ponytail.

Ted laughed, his eyes fixed on Maryse's hazel eyes as she smirked knowingly at him.

Now, for the last several weeks, the blonde's spirits has been to picking up and little by little she was going back to the old Maryse that used to be his friend. She laughed more often, she didn't act as if she wanted to tear his guts out of his body before skinning him alive and after seven weeks of refusing to go anywhere that wasn't the hospital or her hotel room, she has even agreed to flight back to LA with him.

Sure, there was no doubt that she was influenced by the fact that the doctors gave her the great news that baby Sophia was strong enough to leave the hospital as soon as next week and she wanted to get the room ready before taking her home and Ted knew that, but that he managed to make her take a plane to go three States away from the baby was a small victory on itself.

"That's nonsense," He blurted out, going back to the conversation about the paint. "My mom not only painted with regular paint but she made me do it for her and look at me, I turned out just fine."

"Right… anyway…" She said rolling her eyes and moving forward to take the roller so she could go on with the painting process. "There is another box in the middle of the kitchen; bring it here. I want to be done with this today."

"So, not only is she snobby but bossy too, and to think this is my day off."

"Hurry up, Ted!"

"Yeah, yeah…" He rolled his eyes playfully and walked out of the room, leaving the blonde occupied with painting the walls of the baby's room.

While he walked out, he came to realize that he was tired and he had good reason to be. Just the previous day he worked a house show and as soon as he could he took a flight to visit his daughter, then as soon as the visit hour ended he took a red-eye with Maryse to LA and the first thing they did was clean up, eat and hit the stores.

Now, shopping with Maryse was a task on itself and they visited what he believed to be all the baby stores in West Hollywood to then go back to her apartment so they could work on the room.

So with no sleep at all and already running on an empty stomach, he felt like he needed a break.

Not that he would rather be somewhere else because he wanted to be included in every aspect of their baby finally getting home with her mom. Besides, he wasn't going to let her go through the process of it all by herself, he knew that she was getting emotionally better but he also knew she didn't want to be far from the baby for long.

That she got kind of bossy every once in a while? That was Maryse and regardless of that he liked spending time with her, especially now that they were getting along so nicely.

Once he was in the kitchen he located the the mother of his baby told him to move, then he took it and then carried it to the room.

"Here it is." Putting the box down, he took a deep sigh when looking up he encountered that Maryse has stopped painting and was now staring at the wall intently.

He frowned, crossing his arms across his chest while he just observed her. Her hair was lazily pulled in a ponytail that was about to fall loose and all over her back… this was far from the immaculate Maryse everyone knew, and that he was there with her, watching her barefoot and dressed just in shorts and a tank top gave him a sense of hope.

Maybe it was false hope, but he didn't care at the moment.

He shifted his weight onto his right leg, noticing the way she was chewing on her lower lip while her eyes fixed on the wall… he knew her well enough to know that she was thinking.

He liked the way she looked when she was concentrating, but then again he liked how she looked all the time… and that was not a friendly thought.

"You don't like it." He stated rather that asked.

She broke out of her trance and looked him. "I don't know… doesn't it looked dull?"

Ted looked at it for a moment before turning his eyes to her. The paint was a pale pink, the kind little girls loved… or so he thought.

"I think it's pretty, not too scandalous and not too subtle, just perfect."

Maryse shrugged, her eyes back to the wall. "I think it's boring, I should have picked something more vibrant, maybe even purple. I don't want Sophia to have a boring room."

At that statement, Ted chuckled, but deep inside he was hoping that Maryse wouldn't be planning on another trip to buy more paint. The first time has been too much for him as it was.

Hoping for the best, he walked to her and joined her in her stare off. "Maryse… Sophia is two months old… I don't think she'll take notice on what kind of pink her walls are painted in."

"Well she may be young but she has eyes you know, and a boring room can affect the rest of her life…"

"Maryse, Maryse… you are overdramatic and I think you spend too much time thinking about little things that have no sense. This is a nice color…" He reached for the paint can and put a finger in it, soaking it with fresh paint, he then traced a pink line with his painted finger all across her cheek. "See, it even looks good on you."

Maryse opened her mouth in shock and for a moment just stared at him, then she finally reacted. "Ted!" She protested with a gasp as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, then she rubbed her painted hand against his arm, painting him as well. "Ugh, I hate you."

Ted didn't mind what she said and he went back into collecting more paint with his finger so he could wipe it on her other cheek. "Ah, pretty in pink, this is definitely your color."

Maryse's eyes were huge sparkling pools in her face. She didn't seem pissed off, so he ventured to continue his pink path down to her neck, then he retreated and smiled.

Amazingly enough snorted, dunked her hand in the paint and smeared it on his cheeks and forehead. "There you go, they say that real man wear pink."

Liking this new turn of events, Ted saw Maryse's rare playful mood as a green light to keep on, but when he was about to collect more paint to splash it on her, the blonde dunked her hand in the paint before him and painted him some more. This triggered a playful fight were their faces, arms and great part of their clothes ended up covered in pink.

It was a feast of pink, every girls dream and Ted's newly favorite color.

At one point as they goofed around, Ted took hold of the can and walked towards him, letting him know her intention of tossing it to him at any given time. "Take one step closer and you'll be sorry."

"Wait, wait…" He breathed out, reaching to grab her wrist so that she wouldn't throw him the paint. "You wouldn't want to spoil this nice floor, would you?" He tried to reason with her, and it seemed to work because she looked down to the floor… apparently forgetting it was covered in plastic so it wouldn't get ruined with the painting.

Ted took the opportunity to take the can away from her; she laughed and tried to act quickly by spilling it on him but she only managed to spill a small amount over him. Now he had full possession and control of the can.

"So… what was it that you were going to do?" He asked teasingly as she took a step back. "Were you going to throw this on me, all over my hair?"

"Don't you dare, Ted?" Maryse warned, backing away as Ted took two steps towards her, all until she was cornered against a wall.

"But you were going to do it to me." He smiled, his eyes taking on the way her own eyes sent him a warning.

"I'm warning you…" She said him again, even when she was smiling. He knew what she was thinking, not in the hair…

He introduced his hand inside the paint, put the can down and faced her. "Now, what part of you needs more pink, hmmm? He considered for a while… a teasing smile on his pink-covered face. "You have your face, your arms… Oh I know!" Before she could react or even tell him not to do it, he ran his hand through her hair, making her gasp in shock.

"Ted!" She yelped, her mouth wide open as she stared at him in disbelieve.

"Now this masterpiece is complete, you look lovely." He said in triumph, not backing away from her as she stood in her corner.

"Take this thing off my hair or I'll kill you, I swear I'm not kidding."

His mind worked fast and he grinned at her. "Alright… then let's take it off." In a quick maneuver that surprised the blonde in front of him, Ted picked her up, put her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room.

"What do you think you are you doing? Ted, put me down!" With that said, she rested her hands on his lower back, trying to find a way not to fall or maybe looking for a way down; whatever it was Ted kept walking.

"You want me to take the paint off? Then shut up woman," He said; then after some more walking he made it to the bathroom, into the shower and only when they were both there he put her down.

"What?" She started to ask but was cut off when Ted turned on the shower and they were both hit with an icy cold spray. "No… I don't have the water heater turn on!" She protested, trying to walk out of the shower but finding it impossible with Ted blocking her way. "Ugh!"

"Would you stop the whining and crying?" Ted asked, reaching behind her because there was a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap conveniently placed there.

Maryse blinked, getting soaked as she spoke. Then she tried once again to walk away, pushing against him to evade the water, but Ted was not giving in… he was liking this too much.

Keeping her new line of silence, he squeezed some shampoo into his hand and then onto her hair. She let him do it and he smiled.

"The good news is, since this paint in non-toxic you don't have to worry too much." He said, concentrating on trying to take the paint off her hair.

It came easy enough, but because she couldn't tell how much she had left he continued for a bit longer, enjoying the way it felt to wash her hair… he couldn't have planned for a better way to get Maryse in a shower with him.

As he went on with that, the French-Canadian didn't speak; she just stared at him, her beautiful hazel eyes glued to his as he took the soap to take the paint off her face. He didn't speak either, he just processed into gently scrubbing her face, taking in with fascination the feeling of her smooth skin underneath his fingertips.

Sure, he has touched her before and more intimately than that… but it has been so long ago that he was feeling it like it was the first time he ever lay a hand on her; and the fact that they were together in a shower, close enough so that they were touching, soaked to the bone while her big warm eyes studied him made it all different.

It made him wonder what she would do if he leaned into her and kissed her. He only had to move forward the sightless bit to do it… she was so close, it made him wonder if…

"Here, let me help you." She whispered, rubbing some water off her eyes and then taking the soap from his hand. Like he did with her, she went to wash his face… scrubbing his skin, feeling around… her fingers roaming all over his face; he could do nothing but held his breath and watch her as she cleaned him.

Moving his eyes to her slightly parted lips, Ted blinked slowly and bringing his hand up he took hold of her wandering fingers and held them secure in his hold. "I want to kiss you right now."

Tilting her head up, Maryse placed her other hand to his hard stomach and remained like that, saying no word as her eyes delved deep into his.

Ted took that as yet another green light and leaned forward, his lips tenderly pressing to those of the woman in front of him and adding a bit of pressure.

Maryse didn't protest against that so he caught her bottom lip between his teeth and pulled at it, creating a way so he could deepen the kiss, sliding his tongue slowly into her mouth and tasting the sweetness of her.

Breathing into his mouth, Maryse angled her face to the side and dragging her hand from his stomach to the back of his neck, she started to kiss him back; making Ted think that this was finally his time…

TBC?

A/N: Big thanks to xxPunksterxx and NTXDiva for sticking to this; you guys are the best and I wrote this one as a thank you. I don't know, this could be the last update in a long time, I know it was left with a very open ending but I'm not feeling into this story too much as of late and I need to recuperate my Ted & Maryse muses who apparently want to run away.


	12. Chapter 12

"Are you awake?"

Blinking her eyes open and tucking her hand underneath her soft pillow, Maryse breathed in deeply and then she chewed compulsively on her bottom lip.

Yeah, she was awake. She has been awake for a long time now and she was just there, laying on her side and thinking about what just happened in that room earlier on.

Apparently not needing a response, Ted tightened his hold on her, pulling her closer to him and thus making her back mold perfectly against his solid frame. Once he had her where he wanted her, he pressed his lips to a spot in her neck, right where her pulse was beating softly against her flesh.

She allowed him do that, closing her eyes once again and saying nothing.

Moving his lips to her jaw and then up to her cheek, Ted moved from his spot behind her and using the hand he had on her hip, he made her roll to her back while he hovered by her side.

"Maryse… look at me."

Opening her eyes and finding his blue eyes staring deeply into her own, Maryse wrinkled her nose.

"Are you mad with me?" He asked softly and Maryse sighed.

"I'm not mad…" In fact, she didn't know what she was feeling. Everything happened so fast that she wasn't exactly sure how she was feeling.

At first she has been in a great mood, her daughter has been given the green light to go home and she was excited like she hadn't been in a long time.

She even agreed to take a flight back to LA for a day so she could get the baby's room ready.

That has been something she was really looking forward and as soon as she and Ted landed, she dragged him to the stores to buy stuff for their baby.

Things had been great then, in her newfound good mood she and Ted were once again getting along and she was even been glad that he was there with her. Then they got into her house and started to work. She was painting, Ted was putting the crib together and she even picked the clothes she wanted to bring for Sophia in her suitcase.

That's when things started to happen. She and Ted got silly, they started to fool around and before she knew it they were in her shower kissing.

Back to that moment, she hadn't been expecting that he would kiss her like at all and even as it happened, she knew deep in her mind that she should stop things. But somehow she didn't and not only did she let him kiss her but she also kissed him back.

Things didn't end there though; the kiss lead them to touch, touching prompted them to little by little undress each other and then things started to get more heated up… all until she found herself being carried into her room where Ted took her between soft moans and tangled limbs.

All that she allowed it to happen, she gave up into the moment while Ted mumbled sweet nothings into her ear.

Now, she wasn't going to lie, she took pleasure in the way Ted claimed her all for himself; she has been denying herself that kind of human contact for such a long time that the sweet urgency Ted had when taking residence deep inside of her left her aching in a good kind of way.

But now that the moment was gone and the trill of giving into each other started to diminish, she started to wonder if she should have allowed herself to be dragged into this.

After all it was no secret that the nature of her relationship with Ted was messed up. It started messed up and it could only end messed up.

True, in the last two months her perspective on things had change and she has decided that the best thing that could happen in her life, besides having her baby healthy and home with her, was that she and Ted put the past where it belonged and moved on for the sake of Sophia.

That has been an easy decision, Ted has been her rock when she was down and without his support she really didn't know what she would have done; but from that to sleeping with him?

No, that wasn't what she had in mind.

"Then what is it?" He asked in his southern drawl while lifting a hand to her face so his fingers could brush against her cheek.

"It's nothing; I was just thinking about this… and why it shouldn't happen again."

At that Ted grunted and pressed his forehead to her shoulder for a few seconds before lifting his face to her. "Maryse…"

"No, look… I'm not mad and I'm not saying I regret it or anything, but you know things will only get even more messed up and we don't need that. We are getting along fine and I don't want that to change."

"Things doesn't have to change. Maryse, you know how I feel about you and you can't expect me to pretend this never happened because I can't and I won't.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Maryse felt how Ted leaned closer and kissed her on her lips. While he did so, his torso pressed against her naked chest and his arm circled around her waist to bring her even more closer.

Upon contact, her hand automatically locked at the back of his head and she even went as far as to part her lips to grant him unlimited access to deepen the kiss.

And that he did, swirling his tongue around hers before pulling back to look at her in the eye.

"I gave you up once without fighting and I almost lose you for good; I'm not going to do that again." He mumbled against her lips while hugging her to his chest.

She tried to find an argument to his words but she didn't have any. Yeah, she could say that what happened was just a thing of the moment, but if she said that and he kissed her, she knew that she was going to kiss him back and that wouldn't do good to her cause.

Not that she knew what her cause was, she was confused.

"You know I love you, you are the mother of my daughter and I'll love you no matter what."

"Don't say that…" She said, remembering that it was not the first time he said that. He told her earlier on while they were making love and she just brushed it off as a thing of the moment.

"I love you, I love you and I want you to give us a chance. Come on, I can't be that bad." He said with a snort and Maryse smiled.

"You are not that bad, Ted… but I don't know, I'm confused and I don't know what to think anymore." She said, her eyes getting lost into his blue ones.

"Then don't think and just do what you feel right here." He said, placing a hand in her chest, just where he knew her heart was beating life into her body.

Pursing her lips, Maryse closed her eyes and moved her head away from him. She was kind of expecting him to follow the movement with his own face to chase her lips to claim them once again.

He didn't, he remained right where he was, waiting.

"I don't know." And she really didn't, she has spent her entire pregnancy trying to ignore the way Ted treated as if she was the only human being in the world that mattered or on the way her heart would clutch tight into her chest at the thought of Ted finding a woman and forgetting all about her.

But that wasn't quite love and she wasn't sure what it was. A sense of possession? Jealousy? Was it that she wanted to be with him as a couple?

Just the previous day she would say no to all that without musing about it as she would think it weird to be with Ted. After all, the only time when they have been together she was drunk out of her mind and blindfolded while his own sobriety was in question.

But that day she has been a hundred percent in her whole capacity and she didn't find it weird. Quite the contrary, she found it very nice and right in that moment, with his warm body pressing against hers she could see herself giving into him once again.

And he wouldn't have any problem with that, she knew because she could feel his hardness nestled against her stomach.

But that wasn't all there was to it, the sexual aspect. No, she had a feeling that once their desire was satisfied they would have no problem on getting along just fine; they already knew each other to a fault and they knew how to interact with themselves. Besides, having been friends before anything else, there was no doubt that they could coexist.

So the question now was this; did she really want to try things with him?

"We can at least try it, if it works great and if it doesn't fine, no hard feelings."

Humming and rolling her eyes, Maryse slid her hands down his chest and towards his stomach. Back to that first night, that was how everything started, with her hands. She ran her hands down his hard stomach and she has liked how it felt.

That's why she kept on, lowering her hands right to the big price that his pants have been hiding… the rest was history and she had a baby to prove it.

Sliding her hands down to his lower stomach and then dragging them back up to his chest, Maryse'a lips curved into a smile and she leaned forward to kiss him right in the corner of his lips.

"Alright, you win… I'll give you a chance to impress me. But I have to warn you, I'm not an easy person to deal with and I don't get impress easily. Now come on, you have to put the Sophia's crib together."

With that said, Maryse tried to get up to her feet, but before she could even put a foot on the floor, Ted grabbed her by the waist and brought her back into the bed.

"And where do you think you are going?"

"Ted!" She complained with a laugh, letting him lay her down to her back while he parted her legs with his hips to accommodate himself over her. "Okay, who told you that you can do that? We basically just started dating so you have to woo me first; you know how it is, take me out to nice places, buy me and my daughter stuff, bring me chocolate cakes…"

Kissing her jaw, Ted hummed. "I'll do all that, I'll marry you if you want to and I'll give that pretty girl of you all she could possibly want. But that's for later on… right now all I want to do is this."

After saying that, he gave a single push that made him settle deep within her and she sighed content. "If you get me pregnant again, I'll kill you."

Laughing and laying still so he could kiss her mouth briefly, Ted looked at her in the eye and then kissed her nose. "Why, and here I was trying to give you a nice little presence, a little boy."

Rolling her eyes and wrapping her arms around his neck, Maryse pushed her hips to him and buried her face into his neck. Once there she inhaled his scent deeply and closed her eyes.

No, it wasn't love… at least not yet. But she could see herself getting there soon… and who knew? Maybe it _was_ love, only that she couldn't see it for what it was. "Ted, shut up and make love to me."

Complying to her request, Ted kissed her and began to move into her, the two of them giving into each other until they started taking all the other had to offer while giving all they had to give.

That way and that day, they marked what was to become a new beginning in their book while closing the one that started with a drunken love.

FIN


End file.
